Digital Pasifik: the World of Oceania and Melanesia

Looking for data on Filipino laborers employed by the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association in the 1940s? Wanting to compare building techniques of fishing kites from Fiji to Solomon Islands? Eager to listen to a collection of Cooke Island songs gathered by Taputukura Raea?

This easy-to use, ever-growing website is a key part of the Pacific Virtual Museum project, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Australia, and implemented by the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga in collaboration with the National Library of Australia, in development from 2019 to February 2022 and launched in June 2025. 

1) Fishing kite used by Solomon Islands fishermen. 2) Palm frond kite, origin unknown. [both pieces kept at Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira]. Compare with Southeast Asian kites.

1) Fishing kite used by Solomon Islands fishermen. 2) Palm frond kite, origin unknown. [both pieces kept at Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira]. Compare with Southeast Asian kites.

It is aimed at ​“empowering people in and of the Pacific Islands, enabling them to see, discover and explore items of digitised cultural heritage that are held in collections around the world.” Institutions and individuals are invited to contribute archival material, photographs and other data. The website founders refer to the Māori concept of mana — influence, authority and efficacy, ​“aura” of a person, place or object — and the Fijian culture principle of kawa - importance of family lineage and history — , and the duty to uphold those legacies in good faith. We acknowledge that these concepts do not translate directly across all areas of the Pacific, nor do we presume to speak for all of the Pacific, but as a team we hold to them.

The site’s blog allows to post focused contributions. For instance, Viking Sevenseas — Exploring Music from the Pacific, written by Micheal Brown, Music curator at the Alexander Turnbull Library, for instance, helps in connecting Pacific communities with the musical heritage of the Pacific. Note that numerous YouTube clips initially added to the blog aren’t available anymore, which illustrates the need for reliable, non-commercial music archiving online.