Fiji

Fiji is an archipelago of more than 300 islands and a popular holiday destination in the Pacific. You find here a range of items related to Fijian history, customs, economy, including the impacts of climate change and New Zealand’s bilateral relations with this island nation. SCIS no. 5415857

All items

Images
Fijian women performing at the 7th Festival of Pacific Arts, Apia, Samoa
Fijian women performing at the 7th Festival of Pacific Arts, Apia, Samoa
Photograph of Fijian women performing at the 7th Pacific Arts Festival, Samoa. Photograph taken 12 September 1996 by Julia Brooke-White. Inscriptions: On slide mount: Fiji YMC 12/9 7th PAF Samoa ...
Articles
Fiji
Fiji
Fiji is a country in the South Pacific. With more than 300 islands, Fiji is a popular tourist destination. This entry includes some great websites that have facts and information about the history,...
Articles
Fiji language week
Fiji language week offers language lessons, classroom activities and supporting resources to understand and appreciate and Fijian culture.
Websites
WWW
Fijian Language Week resources
Fijian Language Week resources and ideas for all ages
Articles
Fijian language activity book
Learn Fijian words, numbers, and phrases through simple activities.
Articles
Fijian Language Week begins in Aotearoa
The Fijian community has launched online the beginning of Fijian Language Week, sharing events to be held across Aotearoa.
Articles
Ni Sa Bula Vinaka! Auckland Museum celebrates Fiji Language Week
Share Fijian items from the Natural History and Documentary Heritage collections, along with a video of useful phrases in Fijian and even a colouring-in sheet.
Images
Fijian Kava Ceremony
Fijian Kava Ceremony
Photograph of Fijian Kava Ceremony, two unidentified men presenting bilos [coconut shell cups] of kava, taken by Crown Studios Ltd of Wellington. [Copy]. Inscriptions: Marginal notes on negative -...
Images
Diversity stage performers at ASB Polyfest.
Diversity stage performers at ASB Polyfest.
View of a Fijian dance performance at the 2015 ASB Polyfest. Performers are wearing traditional Fijian clothes.
Images
The Fiji islands
The Fiji islands
Fiji consists of 332 islands that together cover over 18,000 sq km of the Pacific Ocean. This map shows the location of the main islands.
Videos
Loss of Fijian oral culture
Technology a threat to culture and language in Fiji.
Videos
Fiji Adventure - Part 1
Fiji Adventure - Part 1
Thrill seekers Curtis and Cameron venture beyond the resorts of Fiji and get to know its friendly faces. In a special episode, we find out just how much this tiny Pacific Island nation has to offer...
Stories
Fijian art, craft and Dance.
A set of items reflecting Fijian art, craft and dance.
Articles
Fiji's first capital becomes a World Heritage Area
Residents of Fiji's first capital, Levuka, hope that the town being declared a world heritage area will help boost the economy and tourism. The announcement by UNESCO was made in...
Videos
Real Pasifik - Series Two, Episode One
Real Pasifik - Series Two, Episode One
This series sees Kiwi-born chef Robert Oliver roving the Pacific, exploring local food culture, and looking to inspire tourist resorts to include indigenous cuisine traditions in their offerings. T...
Articles
Fijians: The Fijian community
Ethnic groups Fijians in New Zealand, as in Fiji, consist of different ethnic groups. Their ancestors come from places as diverse as Europe, China, India, Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific i...
Videos
Raw footage: Cyclone Winston closes in on Fiji
Raw footage: Cyclone Winston closes in on Fiji
Even with Tropical Cyclone still a few hours away, the winds and waves are picking up at a beach an hour out of Suva. Video / Ariela Zibiah
Articles
Widen Bainimarama inquiry, says Fiji forum
The Citizens Constitutional Forum in Fiji is concerned the scope of an inquiry into allegations against the army commander may be too narrow. The CCF executive director, the Reverend Aquila...
Videos
FIJI....THE THREE LEGGED STOOL
FIJI....THE THREE LEGGED STOOL
Documentary promoting harmonious race relations between Fijians, Indians and Europeans in Fiji. Images of different ethnicities working together in and around [Suva]. Village life, boy climbin...
Articles
Fiji tourism figures up for September
Tourism Fiji says visitor arrivals in September showed an increase of 4.5 percent over the same month last year.
Articles
Fijian and Gilbert Island Contingents - Pacific Islanders in the NZEF
Information about men from Fiji and the Gilbert Islands who enlisted for service in the NZEF.
Articles
Fiji to absorb customs in legislation
Moves are under way by Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs to incorporate indigenous Fijian customs and traditions into the country's legislation. Fiji TV reports the move is based on Section...
Images
Presentation of the Tambua or whale's tooth to troops, Fiji
Presentation of the Tambua or whale's tooth to troops, Fiji
Presentation of the Tambua [Tabua (ceremonial whale tooth)] - whale's tooth signifying great honour by the Fijians - to NZ troops, during a mangiti, or the ceremonial presentation of food by the in...
Stories
New Zealand and Fiji relations
Reflections of Fiji and New Zealand relationships.
Images
Poster, 'Fiji By Air By Teal'
Poster, 'Fiji By Air By Teal'
In the mid-1950s, competition for tourist traffic to Fiji became fierce as other airlines began flying the route. TEAL made the most of Arthur Thompson’s graphic design talent to spearhead a campai...
Images
Artist unknown :Friendly Fiji welcomes you [1950s?]
Artist unknown :Friendly Fiji welcomes you [1950s?]
Poster shows a man in traditional Fijian costume, kneeling and performing a kava ceremony. He holds a small bowl in outstretched arms, and there is a large kava bowl in front of him on the ground. ...
Websites
WWW
Girmit
A website that focuses on the indentured labourers transported to work on the sugar plantations in Fiji.
Articles
History of Fiji
The history of Fiji from its discovery to its current status as a multicultural society.
Articles
Nine legends from Fiji
Legends about snakes, turtles, fish, prawns and flowers from Fiji’s past.
Articles
Fiji timeline
Historical timeline from 1643 to 2016.
Videos
Cooking Fijian Food with Lance Seeto
Chef Lance Seeto prepares a dish with some kids.
Articles
The Fijian economy
The big shift from a sugar and textile economy, to tourism as a major economic activity in the island.
Articles
The culture of Fiji
Culture, social stratification, etiquette and religion in Fiji.
Videos
Fiji - empire outpost
Promoting Fiji as a tourist attraction in the 1940s.
Videos
RNZAF in Fiji during WW2
Regular exercises carried out by the RNZAF aircrews in Fiji in 1948.
Videos
The Fiji national anthem
The Flying Fijians sing their national anthem.
Articles
New Zealand and Fiji on development cooperation
New Zealand and Fiji strengthen partnership to strengthen bilateral relations and develop outcomes for Fiji’s economic growth.
Articles
The regulation of indentured labour to Fiji, 1864-1888
How indentured labourers came to work on the plantations in Fiji.
Articles
Forestry certificate training in Fiji
Forestry in Fiji since 1969 and its contribution to the Fijian economy.
Videos
Fiji etiquette 101
Fijian customs to observe when entering a Fijian setting.
Videos
Don’t worry 'bout it
The video for the highest-selling Kiwi song of both 2016 and 2017 was shot on a mobile phone in Fiji.
Articles
Fiji and climate change
Cyclones and flooding prove Fiji is no stranger to climate change.
Articles
Sinking countries fighting climate change
Vunidogoloa has been abandoned due to climate change.
Articles
Fiji: the challenges and opportunities of diversity
This report is part of a programme to improve inter-ethnic relations and reduce discrimination in Fiji.
Data
Fiji, statistics and graphs
Facts and figures relating to New Zealand and Fiji’s domestic and labour markets.
Articles
Endangered Fijian crested iguana
The Fijian iguanas on the list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Articles
Fiji’s style of government
Fiji’s system of government has 3 separate arms of the State – the Legislature (or Parliament), the Executive, and Judiciary.
Articles
Fiji remembers the Great War
President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau pays tribute to Fijian servicemen of WW1.
Videos
Fijian petrel – rare but not extinct
After 129 years the search for the Fiji petrel continues.
Images
Virtual Museum of Fiji
A gallery of images featuring Fiji’s past.
Books
Island legacy: A history of the Rotuman people
The history of Rotuma, a unique indigenous ethnic group, and a recognised minority within the population of Fiji.
Images
Levuka, Fiji
Levuka, Fiji
Levuka is the old capital of Fiji. It was built on the Ovalu Islands as a trading port by the early Colonial Government around 1820. In 1871 Chief Seru Epenisa Cakobau crowned himself King. He mad...
Images
Fijian Indian farmers and boys, Fiji
Fijian Indian farmers and boys
This photograph of Fijian and Fijian Indian farmers reflects the demography of Fiji. Indians were brought to Fiji by the British between 1879 to 1916 to work on sugarcane, coconut and cotton planta...
Images
Nandi Airport
Nandi Airport
Nandi, the main international airport of Fiji, is located on the west side of the main island of Viti Levu. The airstrip, built in 1939 by New Zealand, was financed by Fiji’s British colonial rule...
Newspapers
HURRICANE AT FIJI. (Clutha Leader 26-1-1904)
Hurricane at Fiji
Tropical cyclones are known to wreak havoc in Fiji during December, January and February. This report of a hurricane that hit Fiji in January 1904, was one of the worst experienced then. Today, ...
Newspapers
LOYAL FIJI (Otago Daily Times 24-9-1915)
Loyal Fiji
When Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, it called on all its colonies to support its war efforts. To do their bit, British settlers in Fiji promoted a huge carnival and hoped that tourists fr...
Images
Vegetable market in Suva, Fiji
Vegetable market in Suva
These Fijian women queue patiently, baskets in hand, waiting for the vegetable market to open its doors. Suva’s vegetable market, now Suva’s Municipal Market was established in 1950. It is Suva’s m...
Stories
Fijian kava- the ceremony and significance
Fijian kava- the ceremony and significance
A set of images and articles on the popular cultural kava drinking ceremony in Fiji.
Websites
WWW
Digital Pasifik
See, discover and explore items of digitised Pacific cultural heritage that are held in collections around the world.
Videos
Traditional fire walking in Fiji
Traditional fire walking ceremony in Fiji.
Videos
Fiji B.C
A video podcast series discussing Fijian society, culture and traditions before colonization. With a deep and very rich history this series dives into a time before recorded history was introduced ...
Research papers
Living in two worlds
Challenges facing Fijians living in New Zealand.
Audio
Why do islanders celebrate Rotuma Day?
This week is Rotuma Language Week and hundreds of Rotumans from around New Zealand are gathering in Auckland to celebrate their language and culture. On Monday May 13, the islanders commemorated Ro...
Audio
Episode 5: Coup Culture (Fiji) | Untold Pacific History
Episode 5: Coup Culture (Fiji) | Untold Pacific History
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.
Articles
Calls for Fijian to be the official language of Fiji
Several indigenous Fijian chiefs have called for Fijian to be made the official language of the country. The Fiji Times reports that the minister for lands, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, has...
Images
Fijian women performing at the 7th Festival of Pacific Arts, Apia, Samoa
Fijian women performing at the 7th Festival of Pacific Arts, Apia, Samoa
Photograph of Fijian women performing at the 7th Pacific Arts Festival, Samoa. Photograph taken 12 September 1996 by Julia Brooke-White. Inscriptions: On slide mount: Fiji YMC 12/9 7th PAF Samoa ...
Articles
Fiji
Fiji
Fiji is a country in the South Pacific. With more than 300 islands, Fiji is a popular tourist destination. This entry includes some great websites that have facts and information about the history,...
Articles
Fiji language week
Fiji language week offers language lessons, classroom activities and supporting resources to understand and appreciate and Fijian culture.
Websites
WWW
Fijian Language Week resources
Fijian Language Week resources and ideas for all ages
Articles
Fijian language activity book
Learn Fijian words, numbers, and phrases through simple activities.
Articles
Fijian Language Week begins in Aotearoa
The Fijian community has launched online the beginning of Fijian Language Week, sharing events to be held across Aotearoa.
Articles
Ni Sa Bula Vinaka! Auckland Museum celebrates Fiji Language Week
Share Fijian items from the Natural History and Documentary Heritage collections, along with a video of useful phrases in Fijian and even a colouring-in sheet.
Images
Fijian Kava Ceremony
Fijian Kava Ceremony
Photograph of Fijian Kava Ceremony, two unidentified men presenting bilos [coconut shell cups] of kava, taken by Crown Studios Ltd of Wellington. [Copy]. Inscriptions: Marginal notes on negative -...
Images
Diversity stage performers at ASB Polyfest.
Diversity stage performers at ASB Polyfest.
View of a Fijian dance performance at the 2015 ASB Polyfest. Performers are wearing traditional Fijian clothes.
Images
The Fiji islands
The Fiji islands
Fiji consists of 332 islands that together cover over 18,000 sq km of the Pacific Ocean. This map shows the location of the main islands.
Videos
Loss of Fijian oral culture
Technology a threat to culture and language in Fiji.
Videos
Fiji Adventure - Part 1
Fiji Adventure - Part 1
Thrill seekers Curtis and Cameron venture beyond the resorts of Fiji and get to know its friendly faces. In a special episode, we find out just how much this tiny Pacific Island nation has to offer...
Stories
Fijian art, craft and Dance.
A set of items reflecting Fijian art, craft and dance.
Articles
Fiji's first capital becomes a World Heritage Area
Residents of Fiji's first capital, Levuka, hope that the town being declared a world heritage area will help boost the economy and tourism. The announcement by UNESCO was made in...
Videos
Real Pasifik - Series Two, Episode One
Real Pasifik - Series Two, Episode One
This series sees Kiwi-born chef Robert Oliver roving the Pacific, exploring local food culture, and looking to inspire tourist resorts to include indigenous cuisine traditions in their offerings. T...
Articles
Fijians: The Fijian community
Ethnic groups Fijians in New Zealand, as in Fiji, consist of different ethnic groups. Their ancestors come from places as diverse as Europe, China, India, Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific i...
Videos
Raw footage: Cyclone Winston closes in on Fiji
Raw footage: Cyclone Winston closes in on Fiji
Even with Tropical Cyclone still a few hours away, the winds and waves are picking up at a beach an hour out of Suva. Video / Ariela Zibiah
Articles
Widen Bainimarama inquiry, says Fiji forum
The Citizens Constitutional Forum in Fiji is concerned the scope of an inquiry into allegations against the army commander may be too narrow. The CCF executive director, the Reverend Aquila...
Videos
FIJI....THE THREE LEGGED STOOL
FIJI....THE THREE LEGGED STOOL
Documentary promoting harmonious race relations between Fijians, Indians and Europeans in Fiji. Images of different ethnicities working together in and around [Suva]. Village life, boy climbin...
Articles
Fiji tourism figures up for September
Tourism Fiji says visitor arrivals in September showed an increase of 4.5 percent over the same month last year.
Articles
Fijian and Gilbert Island Contingents - Pacific Islanders in the NZEF
Information about men from Fiji and the Gilbert Islands who enlisted for service in the NZEF.
Articles
Fiji to absorb customs in legislation
Moves are under way by Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs to incorporate indigenous Fijian customs and traditions into the country's legislation. Fiji TV reports the move is based on Section...
Images
Presentation of the Tambua or whale's tooth to troops, Fiji
Presentation of the Tambua or whale's tooth to troops, Fiji
Presentation of the Tambua [Tabua (ceremonial whale tooth)] - whale's tooth signifying great honour by the Fijians - to NZ troops, during a mangiti, or the ceremonial presentation of food by the in...
Stories
New Zealand and Fiji relations
Reflections of Fiji and New Zealand relationships.
Images
Poster, 'Fiji By Air By Teal'
Poster, 'Fiji By Air By Teal'
In the mid-1950s, competition for tourist traffic to Fiji became fierce as other airlines began flying the route. TEAL made the most of Arthur Thompson’s graphic design talent to spearhead a campai...
Images
Artist unknown :Friendly Fiji welcomes you [1950s?]
Artist unknown :Friendly Fiji welcomes you [1950s?]
Poster shows a man in traditional Fijian costume, kneeling and performing a kava ceremony. He holds a small bowl in outstretched arms, and there is a large kava bowl in front of him on the ground. ...
Websites
WWW
Girmit
A website that focuses on the indentured labourers transported to work on the sugar plantations in Fiji.
Articles
History of Fiji
The history of Fiji from its discovery to its current status as a multicultural society.
Articles
Nine legends from Fiji
Legends about snakes, turtles, fish, prawns and flowers from Fiji’s past.
Articles
Fiji timeline
Historical timeline from 1643 to 2016.
Videos
Cooking Fijian Food with Lance Seeto
Chef Lance Seeto prepares a dish with some kids.
Articles
The Fijian economy
The big shift from a sugar and textile economy, to tourism as a major economic activity in the island.
Articles
The culture of Fiji
Culture, social stratification, etiquette and religion in Fiji.
Videos
Fiji - empire outpost
Promoting Fiji as a tourist attraction in the 1940s.
Videos
RNZAF in Fiji during WW2
Regular exercises carried out by the RNZAF aircrews in Fiji in 1948.
Videos
The Fiji national anthem
The Flying Fijians sing their national anthem.
Articles
New Zealand and Fiji on development cooperation
New Zealand and Fiji strengthen partnership to strengthen bilateral relations and develop outcomes for Fiji’s economic growth.
Articles
The regulation of indentured labour to Fiji, 1864-1888
How indentured labourers came to work on the plantations in Fiji.
Articles
Forestry certificate training in Fiji
Forestry in Fiji since 1969 and its contribution to the Fijian economy.
Videos
Fiji etiquette 101
Fijian customs to observe when entering a Fijian setting.
Videos
Don’t worry 'bout it
The video for the highest-selling Kiwi song of both 2016 and 2017 was shot on a mobile phone in Fiji.
Articles
Fiji and climate change
Cyclones and flooding prove Fiji is no stranger to climate change.
Articles
Sinking countries fighting climate change
Vunidogoloa has been abandoned due to climate change.
Articles
Fiji: the challenges and opportunities of diversity
This report is part of a programme to improve inter-ethnic relations and reduce discrimination in Fiji.
Data
Fiji, statistics and graphs
Facts and figures relating to New Zealand and Fiji’s domestic and labour markets.
Articles
Endangered Fijian crested iguana
The Fijian iguanas on the list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Articles
Fiji’s style of government
Fiji’s system of government has 3 separate arms of the State – the Legislature (or Parliament), the Executive, and Judiciary.
Articles
Fiji remembers the Great War
President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau pays tribute to Fijian servicemen of WW1.
Videos
Fijian petrel – rare but not extinct
After 129 years the search for the Fiji petrel continues.
Images
Virtual Museum of Fiji
A gallery of images featuring Fiji’s past.
Books
Island legacy: A history of the Rotuman people
The history of Rotuma, a unique indigenous ethnic group, and a recognised minority within the population of Fiji.
Images
Levuka, Fiji
Levuka, Fiji
Levuka is the old capital of Fiji. It was built on the Ovalu Islands as a trading port by the early Colonial Government around 1820. In 1871 Chief Seru Epenisa Cakobau crowned himself King. He mad...
Images
Fijian Indian farmers and boys, Fiji
Fijian Indian farmers and boys
This photograph of Fijian and Fijian Indian farmers reflects the demography of Fiji. Indians were brought to Fiji by the British between 1879 to 1916 to work on sugarcane, coconut and cotton planta...
Images
Nandi Airport
Nandi Airport
Nandi, the main international airport of Fiji, is located on the west side of the main island of Viti Levu. The airstrip, built in 1939 by New Zealand, was financed by Fiji’s British colonial rule...
Newspapers
HURRICANE AT FIJI. (Clutha Leader 26-1-1904)
Hurricane at Fiji
Tropical cyclones are known to wreak havoc in Fiji during December, January and February. This report of a hurricane that hit Fiji in January 1904, was one of the worst experienced then. Today, ...
Newspapers
LOYAL FIJI (Otago Daily Times 24-9-1915)
Loyal Fiji
When Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, it called on all its colonies to support its war efforts. To do their bit, British settlers in Fiji promoted a huge carnival and hoped that tourists fr...
Images
Vegetable market in Suva, Fiji
Vegetable market in Suva
These Fijian women queue patiently, baskets in hand, waiting for the vegetable market to open its doors. Suva’s vegetable market, now Suva’s Municipal Market was established in 1950. It is Suva’s m...
Stories
Fijian kava- the ceremony and significance
Fijian kava- the ceremony and significance
A set of images and articles on the popular cultural kava drinking ceremony in Fiji.
Websites
WWW
Digital Pasifik
See, discover and explore items of digitised Pacific cultural heritage that are held in collections around the world.
Videos
Traditional fire walking in Fiji
Traditional fire walking ceremony in Fiji.
Videos
Fiji B.C
A video podcast series discussing Fijian society, culture and traditions before colonization. With a deep and very rich history this series dives into a time before recorded history was introduced ...
Research papers
Living in two worlds
Challenges facing Fijians living in New Zealand.
Audio
Why do islanders celebrate Rotuma Day?
This week is Rotuma Language Week and hundreds of Rotumans from around New Zealand are gathering in Auckland to celebrate their language and culture. On Monday May 13, the islanders commemorated Ro...
Audio
Episode 5: Coup Culture (Fiji) | Untold Pacific History
Episode 5: Coup Culture (Fiji) | Untold Pacific History
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.
Articles
Calls for Fijian to be the official language of Fiji
Several indigenous Fijian chiefs have called for Fijian to be made the official language of the country. The Fiji Times reports that the minister for lands, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, has...

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