Nuku'alofa, Tonga: a Preliminary Study of Urbanization and In-migration

Abstract

I spent three years in Nuku'alofa from 1962 to 1964 as a secondary teacher seconded by the New Zealand Department of Education to the Kingdom of Tonga. Most of the research needed for this study was undertaken during the school vacations. It will be clear that the advantages of long residence in the area of study were partly offset by the shortcomings of part-time research, and particularly by the difficulties of procuring comparative material form overseas and the lack of opportunity to discuss the study as it progressed with colleagues and staff of the Victoria University of Wellington Geography Department. Problems which could have been solved quickly in Wellington often appeared insurmountable in the academic remoteness of Tonga. I trust that some of the shortcomings of this study will be attributed to this cause. As in most Pacific islands where the value of urbanization studies is only now being realized, the absence of reliable records created another problem for research. Very little information had been gathered on Nuku'alofa and the only census that was adequate and of which adequate records had been kept was for 1956. Accordingly, very little information could be gathered on the "vital statistics" of the town before 1956, and as there had been no census since this date, much of the information of changes since had to be obtained by direct surveying and questioning.