Views of the Pacific

Pasifika at Auckland Libraries is well underway and there is lots you can take part in. To get you in the mood, listen to the Pacific Islands music playlist that has been specially created for this festival.

You can also check out the Pacific resources at Auckland Libraries. This includes a range of heritage collections: online resources, Pacific Island family history resources (Central Auckland Research Centre), Pacific newspapers (South Auckland Research Centre) and reference materials at the research centres .

There are also significant collections in the Sir George Grey Special Collections, including a tapa cloth book collected during Cooks' three voyages to the southern hemisphere. This has now been digitised and can be accessed online and you can read about the project to track down the other Cook tapa cloth books known to exist.

To further celebrate and honour the contribution that Pacific Islands communities make to the cultural mix of peoples in Auckland and New Zealand in general, below is virtual tour around the Pacific through the heritage collections at Auckland Libraries:

Ref: AWNS-19300604-49-1, visit to the Kermadec Islands, 1930, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Ref: AWNS-19330510-31-1, NZ Governor-General's tour of the Pacific Islands including: Tonga, Rarotonga, Samoa and American Samoa, 1933, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Ref: AWNS-19330510-33-1, NZ Governor-General is warmly greeted in Samoa, 1933, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Ref: AWNS-19291106-45-2, the S.S. Tofua at Babau, Tonga Islands, 1929, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Ref: AWNS-19211208-37-1, Scenes from Fiji, 1921 Sir George Grey Special Collections