Siu ki Moaná
Fakafehokotaki `o e Pasifikí
`Aotealoa Nu`usila mo e Pule`anga Faka-Tu`i `o Tongá 1880-1950
`Oku hanga `e he Siu ki Moaná `o faka`ilonga`i `a e ngaahi vaa`ifolau `o e mo`ui `a e kau Nu`usila ki Tongá pea mo e kakai Tonga ki Nu`usilá kimu`a he ngaahi ta`u 1950. `Oku to`o mai `a e hingoa ko e Siu ki Moaná mei he kupu`ilea Tonga `oku `uhinga fakapatonu ke fononga, folau pē faikapakau he funga tahi lolotó. `Oku ngāue`aki `a e leá ni ki he puna `a e manu siufonuá mei ha motu ki ha motu mama`o, mo e kau toutaiiká `a ia `oku nau siu he `atā `o e vahamoaná, `o mama`o mei he malu `o e ngaahi loto`ā mo e ngaahi hakaú, mo nau munomuna ma`u pē ke nau ake mei tahi mo ha toutaima`u. `Oku ngāue`aki heni mo hano `uhinga fakalahi, `a ia `oku tuhu ki he `unaloto `a ha taha ki ha mamani `oku unga mai he tafa`aki `e taha `o e aake `o e peau `o e houfonuá.
Na`e fuofua faka`ali`ali `a e Siu ki Moana `i Nu`usila `i he Laipeli Fakapule`anga `o `Aokalaní `i he 2002, `a ia na`e fai hono fokotu`utu`u fakahokohoko fakata`uhongofulu `a e ngaahi `ata `o e ngaahi fekau`aki he vā `o e kau Tongá mo e kau Nu`usilá; na`e ma`u `a e konga lahi `o e ngaahi tā mei he ngaahi fāmili Nu`usila na`e `i ai `enau ngaahi fehokotaki vāofi mo Tonga pē ngaahi fāmili Tonga, `a ia kuo `i ai `enau ngaahi fetu`utaki vāofi mo Nu`usila. `Oku to e mohu ange `a e faka`ali`ali ko `ení, `o to e tanaki mai ki ai `a e ngaahi talatukungutu mo e ngaahi me`a mei he Laipeli `o Alexander Turnbull pea mo ha ngaahi sino fakapule’anga, `a ia na`e faka`ali`ali he fale faka`ali`ali `aati `o e National Library Gallery `i Uēlingatoní he 2005 ki he 2006.
Na`e talateu`aki foki `a e faka`ali`ali `i Uēlingatoní `a e ngaahi talanoa ha fefononga`aki ta`e`amanekina `a ha ongo talavou, `a ia ko e taha mei Nu`usila ki Tonga pea mo e taha mei Tonga ki Nu`usila `i he konga kimu`a `o e ngaahi ta`u 1800; na`e aofangatuku`aki ha tā mei he ngaahi ta`u 1940, `a ia ko ha kau Tonga he Uafu-ko-Vuná, `i Nuku`alofa, he vaa`itaimi hili nai `a e Taulahi hono Ua `a Mamaní. `Oku unuunu mai ha ngaahi `ata `o ofi nai he 50 mei honau tanakilahi fakakatoa ki he faka`ali`ali Siu ki Moaná `oku `amanaki ke fakahoko `i he Pule`anga Faka-Tu`i `o Tongá.
`Oku faka`ata mai `e he faka`ali`alí `a e tokoni mo e tukupā `a e kakai mo e ngaahi fāmili lahi, `a ia ko e tokolahi `o kinautolu `oku `i ai `enau ngaahi fehokotaki mālohi fakatouloua pē `a Nu`usila mo Tonga. Na`e kamata `a hono fakakaukau`i `a e faka`ali`ali Siu ki Moana he ta`u 1992, `o tupu mei he fekumi ki he ngaahi `ata ki ha tohi hisitōlia talatukungutu ‘o fekau`aki mo e ke i fefine si`i `o e mo`ui `a e tufunga talanoa ko ia ko Tupou Pōsesi Fanua. Na`e hu`u `a e fekumí ni ki ha puha tuku`angakoloa `o e ngaahi tā mo e koloa pelepelengesi `a e fāmili Whitcombe `i `Aokalaní. Na`e iku `o ma`anu mai mei he ngaahi tānaki`angakoloa fakataautaha `a e ngaahi fāmili Nu`usila mo e Tonga, `o hangē ko e ngaahi hingoa ko e Cocker, `Ilolahia, Clarke, Hansen, Santos, Goodwin, Scott, Day, Leger, Chatfield, Vete, Hettig, Denny, Zuckschwerdt, Inu-ki-Ha`angana, Miller, Riechelmann, Tu`inukuafe, mo e Wolfgramm. `Oku `oatu ha ngaahi fakamālō loto hounga`ia kiate kinautolu ko `enau vaevae mai `a e ngaahi hisitōlia `o `enau mo`uí `i he faimāfana, pea ki a Mele Saiatua Lavulo ki he`ene manatua `o e ngaahi hingoa, `aho mo e ngaahi felālāve`i fakafāmili, mo e fanga ki`i mingimingi`ime`a ko e unu mei he`ene manatulolotó `o hangē tofu pē ko e loloto `o e tahí.
`Oku ou faka`amu ke fakamālō`ia `o `ikai ngata pē he ngaahi fāmili he faka`ali`alí ni, ka e pehē ki he kāinga kotoa pē he ngaahi komiunitī Tonga `i Tonga mo Nu`usilá na`a nau fai tōnunga ke fakafōtunga mo fakakaveinga `a e faka`ali`alí ni. Na`e hoko `enau misi mo e takitalá `o hoko ai `a e fakahokongāué ni ko `enau ngāue `o hangē tofu pē ko `ene to e hoko ko `eku ngāué. `Oku kavekavea`u atu ha fakamālō ki he Pacific Cooperation Foundation, `o makatu`nga he`enau lototō `i he funga `o e tokoni fakapa`anga ke malava ai `a e akesiu ki `api `a e Siu ki Moaná.
Lois Webster
Fatu Faka`ali`ali
Ko ha faka`ali`ali ma`ae Pule`anga Faka-Tu`i `o Tongá mei he Laipeli Fakafonua `a Nu`usila Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, 2006.
Taki Siponisā, Pacific Cooperation Foundation
Siu ki Moana
Reaching across the Pacific
Aotearoa New Zealand and the Kingdom of Tonga 1880-1950
Siu ki Moana marks the life voyages of New Zealanders to Tonga and of Tongans to New Zealand before the 1950s. It takes its name, Siu ki Moana, from a Tongan phrase that literally means to travel, to sail, to fly over deep water. It is a term used for the sea bird's flight from island to distant island, and for fishermen who venture out to the open ocean beyond the relative safety of lagoons and reefs, always with the thought of returning with a mighty catch. It is used here with the added sense of one's yearning for a world that is always waiting at the other end of the ocean's swell.
Siu ki Moana was first presented in New Zealand at the Auckland Public Library in 2002 as a decade-by-decade pictorial account of Tongan-New Zealand connections; most of the materials came from New Zealand families who have had personal ties with Tonga or Tongan families who have had close New Zealand connections. An enriched version, including oral histories and materials from the Alexander Turnbull Library as well as other public institutions, was exhibited at the National Library Gallery in Wellington in 2005-2006.
The Wellington exhibition was introduced by stories of the unlikely travels of two young men, one from New Zealand to Tonga and one from Tonga to New Zealand in the early 1800s; it ended with a photograph from the 1940s: a group of Tongans on Vuna Wharf, Nuku'alofa, sometime after World War II. The Siu ki Moana exhibition being presented to the Kingdom of Tonga is a selection of approximately 50 images from this larger collection.
The exhibition reflects the support and dedication of a large number of individuals and families, most of them with strong ties to both New Zealand and Tonga. The conception of Siu ki Moana began in 1992, with the search for photographs for an oral history publication about the young life of a Tongan storyteller, Tupou Pōsesi Fanua. It led to a treasure chest of photographs and ephemera belonging to the Whitcombe family of Auckland. Eventually other private collections emerged from New Zealand and Tongan families, names such as Cocker, Ilolahia, Clarke, Huirama, Hansen, Santos, Goodwin, Scott, Day, Leger, Chatfield, Vete, Hettig, Denny, Zuckschwerdt, Inukiha'angana, Miller, Riechelmann, Tu'inukuafe, and Wolfgramm. Special thanks to them for sharing their life histories in such an intimate way and to Mele Saiatua Lavulo for her recollection of names, dates and family connections, details drawn from a memory as deep as the sea itself.
I wish to thank not only the many families represented here, but also the members of the Tongan communities in Tonga and in New Zealand who have given shape and purpose to the exhibition. Their vision and guidance has made this their presentation as much as it is my own. I would like to acknowledge the Pacific Cooperation Foundation, whose generous funding support has made possible the homecoming for Siu ki Moana.
Lois Webster
Exhibition Curator
An exhibition for the Kingdom of Tonga from the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. 2006
Principal sponsor, Pacific Cooperation Foundation
