Niue

Where can I find information about Niue?

(Years 5-8)

Colour photo of the Limu Pools in the north-west of Niue. — Image: Limu Pools, Niue by tn_photography on Wikimedia Commons.

Entry last updated: 23/10/24

Introduction

Niue (pronounced like noo-ay) is an island in the Pacific Ocean. It is 261 square kilometres and has a population of 1620 people. Niue is a state that is part of the Realm of New Zealand, so the Niuean people are also citizens of New Zealand.

Niue is also known as the Rock, short for the Rock of Polynesia.

Facts and pictures

There are some excellent websites to look for facts and pictures about the history, people and geography of Niue.

Digital Pasifik

This site is part of the Pacific Virtual Museum pilot project funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australia and put together by the National Library of New Zealand and the National Library of Australia.

Look down the page to Explore locations.
Select Niue.
You can use Filter by and Media Type to look at only images, objects, videos, or audio.

Tips: Websites that have .org or .net in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the organisation’s mission and values are.

BBC Country Profiles

This is the website for the popular British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for international news. It has a section on country profiles that covers facts, government and history of countries like Niue.

Look down the page for the Asia-Pacific heading.
Choose the Territory Niue.
The country profile includes a map, facts, photos and a timeline of historical events.

Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. Usually it’s better to leave out small words like ‘the’, ‘a’ and ‘of’ and just choose the main ones, e.g Niue. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.

Daily Life

These websites have more detailed information about the daily life of Niuean people, their culture and traditions.

Government of Niue

This is the website for the Niue Government. It has information about the history of Niue and some of its traditions like the Haircutting and Ear Piercing ceremonies.

Go to the heading Niue Government.
Select History.

thecoconet.tv

This website was created for the Pacific community in Aotearoa. It has lots of cultural information on the people of the Niue.

Go to How to and then select Niue to find lots of videos on dance, craft and food of Niue.
Or enter 'Niue' into the search box to find a variety of videos showing Niuean culture.

Topic Explorer

Topic Explorer is an online tool from the National Library of New Zealand. It contains a wide range of quality resources in a range of formats (eg articles, books, images, videos, primary sources, sets, websites), on a variety of topics including Niue.

Enter the keyword 'Niue' into the search bar to find the topic set on Niue.
Choose a resource to look at.

New Zealand and Niue

Niue is a free state under the Realm of New Zealand. Here are some websites to help you find more information about New Zealand's relationship with Niue.

Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Te Ara is an excellent starting point for all questions about Aotearoa New Zealand. If we look down to the bottom of the page, we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.

Go to Stories A-Z and find the letter N.
Select Niueans.
This page gives a good summary, but you can explore the other pages in the story for more information.

Te Papa

Te Papa is New Zealand's National Museum. It has items in its collection from Niue, as well as articles.

Go to Discover Collections at the top of the page.
In the drop down menu, select Read, Watch, Play | Korero, Mataki, Purei.
Look down the page until you find the Niue article.
Choose a collection to find out more.

Tips: We like sites like Te Ara and Te Papa because they’re reliable. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.