King of Tonga visits He Tohu exhibition

Their Majesties, King Tupou VI, King of Tonga, and his wife, Queen Nanasipau’u visited the permanent exhibition, He Tohu, at National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa in Wellington last Thursday.

The purpose of Their Majesties visit was to discuss upgrades to the Palace Archives in Tonga, and digitisation of archival material.

Archives New Zealand Chief Archivist, Richard Foy, hosted The King and Queen of Tonga through the He Tohu exhibition and presented a range of Tongan archival material including film footage of Queen Elizabeth II’s tour of Tonga in 1954 from the National Film Unit collection, held by Archives New Zealand, and some Cabinet Records from the Tongan Government Records series, held by the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Archives New Zealand has an existing relationship with Tonga through the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (PARBICA) and has hosted Tongan Government Ministers and other officials around matters of recordkeeping for good governance and best practice in storage practices for physical archival materials.

Their Majesties visit to the National Library was supported by manawhenua iwi Te Atiawa and Ngāti Toa Rangatira, members of the Tongan community and Pacific staff from the Department of Internal Affairs, including a welcome by Kura Moeahu from Te Atiawa and Reverend Hiueni Nuku, Chair of the Wellington Tongan Leaders Council.

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