Untold Pacific History - Season 2 Episode 1: The Forgotten Soldiers of Niue

On the 13th of October 1915, Niue - with a population of 4000 people, waved farewell to 150 of its sons, as they set sail for North Africa to fight in a war they knew very little about. They were off to join New Zealand's war effort. Most of them never made it to war and even more of them never made it home.

Most of these men couldn’t speak English, some of them had never worn shoes and almost all of them had never seen a wet and cold winter. 

Upon their arrival in Egypt they were quickly cut down by severe illness including measles. 

The entire regiment was shipped out to England for medical treatment, but the freezing winter and the fact they’d had very little exposure to foreign diseases, meant that by April of 1916 - just months after arriving - nearly 52% of them were hospitalized due to illness and 5 had already been buried at sea.

Of the soldiers who did survive, many died shortly after their return to Niue.

Leki Jackson Bourke takes us on a journey back to Niue and back through history to discover why these men went to fight in a war they didn’t understand, for a King they didn’t know. He discovers the incredible legacy this has left on Niue as well as his own special connection to these men and this war.

Niuean families speak of the horror of their ancestors leaving the island en masse to fight a war that wasn’t theirs, never to return. These are the stories of the families who sent their sons and ancestors to the failed war venture, who share their stories and memorabilia as they attempt to have their whanau’s lives honoured.