ATCG Wins Supreme Community Award
The Atafu Tokelau Community Group won the Supreme Award at the Wellington Regional Airport Community Awards, Porirua.
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Atafu Tokelau Community Group
The official website of the Atafu Tokelau Community Group (ATCG) in Porirua, New Zealand and a curated site about Atafu and Tokelau developed for educational and cultural purposes.
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Atafu, Tokelau
Malo ni!
Atafu, formerly known as the Duke of York Group, is a group of 52 coral islets within Tokelau in the south Pacific Ocean, 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of Samoa. With a land area of 2.5 square kilometres (1.0 square mile), it is the smallest of the three atolls that officially constitutes Tokelau, along with Fakaofo and Nukunonu. Tokelau considers Olohgea (Swains Island) to be the fourth atoll.
Since the 1950s, people from Atafu have migrated to New Zealand, many basing themselves in Wellington.
Today, the Wellington region is home to more Tokelauans than any other centre in the world, with a population of over 4,000 people. The Matauala Centre in Porirua is our gathering place, which was built by our founders in 1987. Matauala is another name for Atafu.
This is the official site for the Atafu Tokelau Community Group Inc, but is also an Educational & Cultural Hub for anyone that has an interest in Atafu and Tokelau. Our thanks to the Ministry for Pacific Peoples for supporting us with Phase 1 of our website upgrade through the Provider Languages Fund.
Fakafetai lahi lele.
Legacy & Migration Story
In 2017, a founding father of the Atafu Tokelau Community Group, Niu Sila Mataio Taupe QSM, talked to Pasefika Proud about his migration to New Zealand in 1959 and the beginnings of the group. He sadly passed away in 2021, aged 90.
Aumaga o Toku Fenua (2019)
Atafu Tokelau Community Group president Les (Lehi) Tenise Atoni talks to his son Anthony Atoni about Atafu, he shares the history of Lotomau and the importance of Aumaga.
This is part of video series created by Vaka Lemisio and Gabrielle Paringatai-Lemisio. This video was also partly filmed at Matauala in Porirua.
Educational & Culutral Hub
History
Learn about the humble beginnings of the Atafu Tokelau Community Group in Porirua.
Also a brief History of Tokelau and Atafu, efforts to achieve self-determination, the territorial dispute between Tokelau and the US over Olohega (Swains Island), the atrocities of the Peruvian Slave Raids or Blackbirding in the 1860s, Atafu during World War II and the unsolved mystery of the MV Joyita that lost all its passengers and crew in 1955.
Music & Dance
Learn about the Music and Dance of Atafu and Tokelau featuring more than 40 videos and audio recordings.
Also included are 10 video resources for children.
Language
The Tokelauan language is under threat. Learn about Gagana Tokelau, what the Atafu Tokelau Community Group is doing to promote its maintenance and survival, and access a full copy of the Tokelau dictionary.
Tokelauan Way
Learn about Faka-Tokelau - our culture, society and way of life, and how the Atafu Tokelau Community Group is trying to promote and hold fast to those same ways and values in New Zealand. Learn about the painstaking work involved in translating a Tokelau version of The Bible and how Tokelau became the first fully solar-powered nation in the world.
Atafu (2020)
Drone footage of Atafu, a low-lying atoll of Tokelau. Tokelau's other motu (atolls) include Nukunonu and Fakaofo. About 1,500 Tokelauans live on these atolls which are in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawai’i and Aotearoa New Zealand. This video has no sound.
The video is used with the kind permission of Te Papa.
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