On Sat, 15/10/22, the incorporated association registered in Queensland named NACQ (Niue Advisory Council of Queensland) pulled off another successful community celebration at the St Joseph Junior League Club, Virginia, Brisbane.
This is their second such event for the year, the first was the Niue Premier’s visit back in August.
For those of us who are new to the Niue community, NACQ has been around for many years now. It was the brain child of Kau Taleni, Duncan Taleni, Mel Taleni Taylor, Frank Rex, Gia Puhotau and other Niueans living in Queensland. If you read their constitution, they were setup to advise the community in matters relating to the public sector and local government. In short, they aim to represent the interests of the Niuean community to the Australian, Queensland and Niue governments.
Why was our Church involved? We were not involved. Everything was handled by NACQ. Since the President (Kau), Vice (Gia) and members of their committee (Frances, One, Ryan and Nise) are our Deacons and members of our Church, it is only right that we lend them our support. So we were involved as supporters, just not formally.
Our friend and Pastor, Rev Andrew of the Clontarf Baptist church also attended and prayed a heartfelt prayer for Niue and its people.
The official day for Pulefakamotu (Constitution) falls on the 19th October but the celebrations are usually scheduled for the weekend.
This year, it has been agreed that the Gold Coast community would organize the official celebration down in Gold Coast on 22/10/22. So why were there two? Beats me but if you have been a Niuean longer than I have, you will also not know… ;-).
Every year the Niue government would create a short theme for the Pulefakamotu and this year’s one is “Fakatuleva e aga fakamahomo atu”. The govt have chosen this translation for it – “Innovation for sustainable development”.
The Vagahau Niue is also promoted over the third or fourth week, to coincide with the Constitution celebrations. From what I have seen the awareness campaigns that comes from Auckland and NZ, are very organized.
With the approval of his family, NACQ used the occasion to acknowledge the late Jeffery Puhotau, younger brother of Gia and Siua Togasiua (our Church Elder/Ulumotua), for the many contributions he initiated for the community before his untimely passing. This fallen pillar (pou malolo) is survived by his wife Nita and children, Juanita, Winston, Ostin and partner and granddaughter Ghia.
Also in attendance was their father, Simeona Puhotau, who came from NZ with his daughter, Aita Tonga and her younger son, and another sister Fia Lokeni Nelisi who is the wife of Sydney based Pastor Lokeni Nelisi. They are on their way back to NZ after attending the funeral of Semisi Tonga, the brother of Pastor Aisea Tonga. Our condolences to the family as we wish them a safe journey back home to Sydney and Auckland. Our warmest regards to Pastor Aisea Tonga and Pastor Lokeni Nelisi.
It was a privilege to also met a tupuna from Avatele, Niue Mafileo Tukuleva and his daughter Frances. Niue, father of Jamal one of our band members, is highly respected in our community, a Deacon for a Niuean Church and retired leader of the Avatele community.
Very early in the morning, apart from the organizers, the first group of people to arrive were the stall holders who were there to sell food and drinks. In the evening before, the organizers turned up to setup and decorate the hall according to the theme for this year. In many past events by Niueans, the colors and decorations were usually loud, colorful, in your face, and highly uncoordinated. Not so here, the colors were cool.
As often happens with these events, the formal service started with a takalo which is a Niuean war dance; why it’s used to welcome dignitaries is anyone’s guess. The takalo is then followed by a flag raising ceremony and the open prayer. Then there will be a message, hymns and then a closing prayer.
This year we were treated to the items from Jeff Puhotau’s family and the introduction of the Niue Qld League Team. NACQ is heavily involved with sports like League mainly at the administrative level. This is the team who represented Niue in the Qld Pacific Islands league competition that was held last weekend in Beenleigh. Niue fielded five teams and they managed to win a few games.
There were other events like husking coconuts, egg on a spoon race, running on stilts (tui sekeka) – these were all designed to give our young people a peek into their Niuean culture and traditions.
There were at least 100+ people there which included leaders from the other communities and churches. Many also travelled from as far away as the Gold Coast. I will finish this post with a summary of the things I like and did not like.
THE HIGHLIGHTS, TAU MENA MITAKI.
- Prayers from Rev Peauvale to open; Rev Andrew for the Niuean govt/people; Fia Nelisi to close.
- The way God was glorified during the formal service.
- Old man Simeona’s slick dance moves (sadly Gia and Siua doesn’t take after their dad).
- The Speeches.
- Douglas Tukutama, on keeping the Vagahau and Culture alive (also the MC).
- Nita Puhotau, wife of the late Jeff Puhotau, spoke about her late husband.
- Simeona Puhotau and Aita Tonga.
- Joe Tapatuetoa, the retired President of the Niue Community.
- Items from the Puhotau family. The boys’ takalo was fantastic, esp Simeon, Saints and Peter. The others? Kinda ok.
- Food vendors/stalls; without them visitors would have been starved.
- Seeing my brother Carlos struggled to run on stilts.
- Meeting the rugby league boys.
- Watching Ligi and Nita showing the boys how to husk coconuts.
- Meeting with many nephews and nieces, including Millie, Maka, Shana, Falala, Victoria, Marnie, Sharn, Eli, Alfa, Tana and Krystal’s children and of course Uka.
TAU MENA KUA LATA KE LILIU ONOONO KI AI, THINGS THAT COULD BE IMPROVED.
- Praising the old god tagaloa is wrong. If you are using the word to refer to a rainbow, that’s okay. If you’re not sure… do not use it or you will pay the consequence. We may think we sound cool… no, we are only inviting trouble. Jesus is our God now. We praise only God.
- The long program. Even after all these years… lol. Maybe have several short sessions – formal service is one, then a break for 1-2 hours, then follow by jersey presentation then another break, then something else…
- Nane (porridge made with arrowroot and coconut juice) – missing this year.
- Ligi’s pitako – heard it was yummy but I missed out.
More pictures are available on our Facebook News page (we have two) – https://www.facebook.com/ekalesianiuenews.
