Exhibition on legacy of NZ's invasion of Samoa during WW1 opens

Transcript

New Zealand's first act of the First World War, the taking of Samoa from the Germans in 1914,  and the legacy of this, has been commemorated at the Auckland War Museum.

The exhibition 'Entangled Islands' chronicles the relationship between New Zealand and Samoa, the bad and better times, and how it's changed both countries.

Leilani Momoisea reports:

The consultant historian for the exhibition, Auckland University's Damon Salesa, says the exhibition tries to honour one of the most powerful living legacies in the country - the tie between New Zealand and Samoa, which began as New Zealand's first act in the war. Damon Salesa says when New Zealand invaded Samoa, and spent the next 50 years governing it, often not very well, it led to an enduring link between the two peoples - with Auckland becoming the largest Samoan city in the world.

DAMON SALESA: It's hard to imagine what Auckland would be like, if we hadn't forged that relationship with Samoa. There are 120 thousand, over 120 thousand Samoans in Auckland, over 200 thousand Samoans in New Zealand, Samoan is probably the second most spoken language in New Zealand, so obviously a very profound effect on the way we live.

The Associate curator of history at the museum, Gail Romano, says it's been interesting to learn how little of the Samoan story New Zealanders are aware of.

GAIL ROMANO: The driver for New Zealand going up there at the time was a technology story. So it was about this wireless station that Germany had put on up by Apia and it was very very powerful, we were aware of that, Britain was aware of that, and so it was key to remove that technology.

Damon Salesa says stories he grew up with, the Mau Movment and the influenza epidemic, feature in the exhibition.

DAMON SALESA: And the influenza epidemic, which comes as a result of the war, kills about one in five Samoans, so rapidly, in just a few weeks, if we imagine that one out of every five people we know is dead, really transforms Samoans. And that's really what breaks down the relationship between New Zealand and Samoa, is that belief that New Zealand's ineptness had led to that, and that they didn't seem to care.

The exhibition features recorded stories from 103 year old Mele Ioelu, who tells what life was like under colonial rule. Her daughter, Afioga Sadiq, was with her at the exhibition, and says she'd never heard the stories in detail before, until her Mother spoke about them for the exhibition. She says her mother memories include running and hiding in church when sirens would warn of soldiers coming, and digging holes in the ground to hide from soldiers.  

AFIOGA SADIQ: She remembered, there were more people dying and they didn't have enough peopel to dig graves. She remembers seeing people walking around like they were drunk and suddenly, somebody will collapse and they had this great big one hole in the ground and they were just throwing bodies in there.

She says it's great to take her children and grandchildren to the exhibition so they can learn about their roots, and it's also brought a lot of her memories to life.

AFIOGA SADIQ: We've learnt a lot, I mean I've even heard a weapon with a name, but I never knew what it looked like until I came to the museum today. Some times it's nice to hear stories, and also to have proof, photos and things to actually see what they really are like.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum says the exhibition is not just for Samoans, and is a profound part of history for all New Zealanders.