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Pacific

Hear about tatau (Sāmoan tattooing), weaving in Tokelau, browse our Pacific collections online, and read blogs.

  • Closeup of a tattoo on a man's thighs
    Tatau: Sāmoan tattoo

    Tatau: Sāmoan tattoo

    Explore the history of Sāmoan tatau, watch interviews with people talking about what their tatau means to them, and discover objects and photographs within our collections.

  • Ariel view of a ring-shaped island
    Tokelau

    Tokelau

    Tokelau is in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawai‘i and Aotearoa New Zealand. Find out more about Tokelau through videos, blogs, and an activity book.

  • Hand-drawn map of Tonga
    Quiz: Tongan Language

    Quiz: Tongan Language

    How’s your basic Tongan? Time to brush up using Tongan objects from Te Papa’s collection. Give it a go and have fieia (fun)!

  • A lady in a yellow shirt holds up some of her weaving
    Weaving in Tokelau: Novena’s story

    Weaving in Tokelau: Novena’s story

    Watch Novena Petelo explain how she learnt traditional Tokelauan weaving techniques from her mother, and hear about some of the tools she uses in her practice.

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    A trip to remote Tokelau: Life a few metres above sea level

    A trip to remote Tokelau: Life a few metres above sea level

    The Pacific island nation of Tokelau is one of the most remote places on the planet, and, with the entire country sitting metres above sea level, one of the most under threat from climate change. Media creator Kate Whitley describes the journey to this vulnerable ‘necklace of small islands’.

  • Yellow aloha shirt
    Collecting the spirit of Hawai‘i through aloha shirts

    Collecting the spirit of Hawai‘i through aloha shirts

    New Zealand and Pacific collections intern Sonya Withers and history curator Claire Regnault recently travelled to Hawai‘i where they collected 83 aloha shirts with a focus on indigenous Hawaiian designers. Claire Regnault reflects on the connection these designers have with their natural environment and how this inspires their designs.

  • Children sit with their grandfather
    George Crummer: Picturing the Cook Islands

    George Crummer: Picturing the Cook Islands

    In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries George Crummer built up a business taking pictures of Cook Islanders and general scene photographs in Rarotonga, Aituaki, and Mangaia.

  • Boys sit holding a cricket wicket
    Cricket, Pacific style

    Cricket, Pacific style

    Pacific peoples picked up cricket from British colonial settlers and quickly developed their own versions of the game. Indigenous forms of cricket are now played by Pacific communities across the world.

  • A student stand with a trumpet in a box
    Countering stereotypes through co-collecting with Tongan youth

    Countering stereotypes through co-collecting with Tongan youth

    As part of our co-collecting initiative with the Tongan community, students have been considering what truly represents them and counters stereotypical representations. Curator Pacific Art, Nina Tonga highlights some of the students and their selected objects.

  • A lady sews a quilted (a Tīvaevae)
    Watch: Cook Islands Tīvaevae, stitched with love

    Watch: Cook Islands Tīvaevae, stitched with love

    Discover the art of tīvaevae (quilting) with Cook Islands women from the Wellington region.