Heritage et AL

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Polyfest, celebrating five incredible decades of diverse communities sharing their cultures through dance, singing, and oratory. With Tāmaki Makaurau as the home to a vibrant Pasifika community, it remains the perfect location to host this annual festival. From its humble beginnings with four schools and their students, Polyfest festival now attracts over 100,000 visitors and brings together more than 70 schools to celebrate Moana Oceania cultures and more. The festival proudly showcases traditional music, dance, costumes, and languages, but it is the camaraderie, cultural enlightenment, and vibrant celebration of youth that truly stand out. Image: Hillary College Yearbook 1976. Auckland Libraries Research South In recent years, the festival has faced several challenges that have also impacted Aotearoa as a whole. In 2019, the nation mourned the tragic events in Christchurch, leading to the cancellation of the festival’s final day. The following year,...

This week marks Vaiaso o te Gana Tuvalu, or Tuvalu Language Week , for 2015. This year’s theme is "Tau gana ko tou iloga/ Language is your identity”. This provides an excellent opportunity to focus on some images relating to Tuvalu in our heritage collections from  Local History Online . Ref: Pacifica Arts Centre, Tuvalu traditional dance performance, 14 November 2013, West Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, PAC-PLAF-2013-D-096. The Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs has compiled a list of events for the week and ask that you follow their Facebook page for updates during the week. Ref: Pacifica Arts Centre, Mama Teuke at the Pacifica Living Arts Festival, 1 November 2005, West Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, PAC-PLAF-2005-D-002.

On 20 October 1976 Hillary College, Otara - now Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate - hosted the first Auckland Secondary Schools’ Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival. Just 6 groups and 40 performers from 4 schools took part (Aorere College, Mangere College, Seddon High School and Hillary College itself). The annual event was then held at a variety of schools. From 1996 it found a permanent home at the Manukau Sports Bowl in Clover Park. This offered the space to establish stage areas for different cultures: Māori, Cook Island, Niue, Samoa, Tonga. By this time a ‘Diversity’ stage for other cultures had also been added. The 25th Festival held at the Sports Bowl in March 2001 involved 13,000 performers and 162 groups from 52 schools. The festival is gathering strength even today. This year’s festival, which is now known in short as the ASB Polyfest , attracted 223 groups from 62 schools. See below for a small selection of images taken at various festivals over the years  (...