Untold Pacific History - Season 3: Episode 2 'Olohega The Stole Island Of Tokelau'

The island sold for a bottle of gin, the iconic music of Te Vaka, and the lost ancestors of a NZ territory in the Pacific, all intertwine in the extraordinary story of Olohega island.

Won by an American whaler during a contentious card game, the Pacific Island that has never been returned to its people sits in the middle of a NZ territory in the Pacific. ‘Olohega’ is the name of an island long forgotten in the Pacific and little heard of in Aotearoa.

Evicted 80 years ago from their homeland, surviving family members and their descendants long to return to their ancestral island, while descendants of the Jennings family who claimed it, want to look at the potential the Island may be able to offer via the United States. It’s the name that has been highlighted in the music of one of the most famous bands in the Pacific, Te Vaka, who have brought a global spotlight to the Pacific through their recordbreaking ‘Moana’ soundtracks and their impassioned plea to redress the rights of their island homeland.

Tokelau itself is little known to the NZ public as one of NZ’s realm nations in the Pacific, the island of Olohenga is complex as part of this history of ownership. Fakafetai to Te Vaka for the use of their beautiful original song 'Halo Olohega' in this piece .