Untold Pacific History

Papa Tom, an extraordinary Cook Islander who smashed new frontiers in space and the ocean in a life that spanned many fields of work.

The life story of I'iga Pisa, an independence activist who sailed hundreds of kilometers in a small canoe to escape exile from Samoa.

This is the little known story of The Forgotten Soldiers of Niue: 150 men plucked from their island paradise and sent 17,000 kms away to the cold frontlines of France during World War I. The Niuean soldiers never made it to the frontline, however. They instead died en route with the introduction of diseases they had never been exposed to.

Told in three separate stories, season two of Untold Pacific History shines a light on key events in the Niue, Samoa and Rarotonga that have been little told in Aotearoa.

This episode examines how and why Indian populations were brought to Fiji, and how the inequities under the colonial government's Girmit system, created a society of instability and countless coups.

This is a story of indigenous land rights gone awry, a makutu from an aggrieved family and the failed business ventures of an infamous 'haunted hotel' in Rarotonga.

This episode examines the fatal consequences of New Zealand's rule in Samoa, and the key events that led to the rise of Samoa's 'Mau' resistance movement.

What led Commissioner Larsen, the New Zealand administrator of Niue in the 1950s, to be murdered in his bed by three locals hell-bent on justice and revenge?

Of the many events affecting Pasifika people in Aotearoa, the Dawn Raids story is overdue to be told.

A dynamic & often provocative account of New Zealand's relationship with the Pacific & the broad impact it's had on New Zealand's own history & relationship with Pacific peoples in Aotearoa today.