Niue: People, Culture and Identity

                                                                             

Niue: People, Culture and Identity
Mele Nemaia (2025)   
Oratia Books
Moana Oceania series 
Non-fiction, 48 pages
Paperback
978-1-99-004271-3 $29.99 Pb

 

We all need to know more about Niue. I was genuinely surprised when I read Lynda Finn’s Trevor the Daring Duck (2023) and discovered that Niue has no streams. When a duck arrived from New Zealand, the kindly Niueans made him a pond!

 

Niue: People, Culture and Identity, the latest in the Moana Oceania series, introduces this charming island and its people with sympathetic text, fact boxes and colour photographs of daily life.

 Two numbers show why this particular book is so important. Niue has just under 2,000 people, while some 35,000 Niueans live in New Zealand. Both groups will value Mele Nemaia’s overview of Niue and its people. Non-Niueans will also find much to interest them in its colourful pages.

 Oratia’s Moana Oceania series of books (about the life and culture of such Pacific communities as Fiji, Sāmoa and the Cook Islands) are primarily written for people from those communities who want to know more about their heritage and identity.  They are also written for New Zealanders who want to find out more about the people of the Pacific, since New Zealand’s histories are inextricably intertwined with those of the Pacific. Niue was annexed by New Zealand in 1901 and 150 Niueans volunteered for the Great War. While Niue became self-governing in 1974, all Niueans are also New Zealand citizens.

 The author Mele Nemaia, MNZM, was born in Niue and has worked as a teacher and author in New Zealand. Thus, she is able to see this tiny community both from inside and outside and describe it with affection. I loved the way her first section, dealing with Niuean identity and Niuean Values, begins with family. Of course, this book is bilingual with facing pages in English and Niuean. So ‘Niue Values’ translates as ‘Tau aga moe e tau Mahani Mahuiga a Niue.’

Family connections are key elements in Niue’s fourteen villages and the plantations which supply the people with food. The various crops and the changing methods of cultivation are well described. Because food is important, there are several pages on how meals are prepared and cooked, with ingredients ranging from tuna to uga (coconut crab).

 Niue is the world’s largest raised coral atoll, with a circumference of 65 kilometres. The island’s fringing reefs and steep cliffs make it easy to see why Mele Nemaia says, ‘Niue has a beautiful but harsh environment.’ It also has a lively culture, shown here in the churches and schools, along with music, dancing, sports and weaving.

 Young readers will enjoy the account of the Takai New Year festival where villages try to outdo each other with a procession of decorated vehicles: ‘who has the most beautiful decorations, who the oldest and scrappiest vehicle, and who has the loudest boom box? … The lolly scramble is an important part of the takai.’

 The reading level for Niue is aimed at 8+, so it is also an ideal resource for schools and libraries. There is no index but the contents page is a good guide to the well-organised sections.

 Trevor Agnew 14 April 2026 [Review 3828]

Note: This review originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Magpies magazine.

Trevor the Daring Duck: A True Tale from Niue

 

Trevor the Daring Duck  
Lynda Finn  (2023)
Nikki Slade Robinson

                                                                                     

Trevor the Daring Duck:
A True Tale from Niue
Lynda Finn
Ill. Nikki Slade Robinson
Scholastic (2023)
Picture book
32 pages Paperback
ISBN 978 1 77543 807 6 

 

‘Quack! What’s under this leaf? Quack! What’s around this corner?’

This picture book for young readers is the story of a duck who achieved fame by making an extraordinary journey.

‘Trevor … was a mallard duck and he was very curious.’

One day a huge storm washes Trevor off the rocks into the sea.

‘Yipee! I’m going on an adventure.’

Sometimes floating on the sea and sometimes flying, Trevor travels a long way across the Pacific Ocean. Finally he comes to an island, where he meets another bird.

‘Fakaalofa atu,’ says the bird.

‘Kia ora,’ Trevor replies

Trevor finds he has arrived at Niue and that a veka (woodhen) is welcoming him.

‘Where are all the ducks?’ asks Trevor.

‘What is a duck? asks Veka.

The rest of Lynda Finn’s charming story tells of Trevor’s life on Niue.

‘Because there are no streams or ponds on Niue, kind people made a special puddle for Trevor the duck.’ He was friends with Veka and some local hens. Newspapers wrote about him as ‘Duck Stuck in Niue: Trevor the Lonely Duck.’ Soon he was world famous. People brought him corn and oats and he shared it with his bird friends. Trevor loved his new home on Niue.

‘So Trevor, the curious duck, stayed on Niue for the rest of his life.’ 

Nikki Slade Robinson’s colour illustrations for this story are charming. As well as creating a very appealing cast of birds, she has used shapes and textures to create dramatic landscapes and seascapes for them. The result is an attractive introduction to Niue, its people and its language. And its duck.

 Trevor Agnew,  25 October 2023 [Review 3600]