Vui Steve Niumata was part of a pioneering group of leaders who advocated on behalf of the first generation of Pacific migrants to New Zealand, helping people navigate complex bureaucratic processes and avoid discrimination and exploitation. At the height of the ‘Dawn Raids’ of the 1970s, he was an outspoken critic of police tactics and the unjust treatment of Pacific communities in Auckland. He was a man of faith committed to a multicultural vision of New Zealand in which Pacific peoples could thrive without sacrificing their cultural identity. In his later years he focused on empowering Pacific communities through employment training and upskilling, as well as rehabilitation programmes informed by his own lived experience.
Early life and education
Setefano (Stephen) Sio Niumata was born on 16 April 1935 to a devoutly Catholic family in Fusi, a village in the Safata district, southern Upolu, Samoa. He was the 11th child of Meamaile Marianive Vui and her husband, Niumata Matautu Isaia. A formidable matriarch, Meamaile had great influence on Steve’s upbringing. She held the chiefly title of Vui, from her family connection to the village of Lano in Savaii, and later in life Steve would also receive this title.
Meamaile’s brother Vui Te’o Manu’a was another influential figure in Steve’s formative years. He had been involved in the Mau struggle for independence and served in the Samoan legislature in the late 1940s and 1950s. When Manu’a visited his sister’s family in Fusi, Steve would often accompany him, learning about political leadership in both customary Samoan and Western settings.
From a young age Steve showed great academic promise. By his own account, he had fond memories of attending St Patrick’s College in Silverstream, Upper Hutt, New Zealand, alongside compatriot Olaf Tamasese, Samoa’s future head of state. In 1953, at his mother’s urging, he entered the Moamoa Catholic seminary, near Apia, as a boarding student, attending additional classes at the Marist Brothers’ school in Savalalo. In early 1955 the Marist Brothers sent him to the Mount St Mary’s Seminary at Greenmeadows, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, where he studied philosophy, sociology, history, scripture and languages.
After several years of seminary study, ministering around New Zealand, a stint teaching at the Moamoa seminary, and theological studies in Rome, Niumata decided to end his religious training. He was supported in this decision by his Marist mentors at Greenmeadows and received a special dispensation from the Catholic authorities in Rome to cease his priesthood vocation.
Settling in New Zealand
Moving to central Auckland in 1960, Niumata lived with his brother Paul, who had also migrated from Samoa. A reference from the Marist Brothers helped him secure a job as a clerk in the Social Security Department, where he administered pension benefits. He enrolled at the University of Auckland part time, and to maintain connection to his Catholic faith, joined the congregation of St Patrick’s Cathedral in the central city. In August 1967 he became a naturalised New Zealand citizen.
Through the St Patrick’s youth group Niumata met Angela Mary Shannahan, a nurse of Irish descent from Greymouth. On 3 February 1968 they were married at St John Vianney Catholic Church in Hillsborough, Auckland. The couple settled in the heavily Polynesian suburb of Grey Lynn and joined the local Catholic community of Sacred Heart. They were to have five children.
In the early 1970s Steve took up a position as a legal executive for Langton & Halford, a Ponsonby law firm. Word spread quickly through the local Polynesian communities that Niumata, a respected figure familiar with the law, who spoke both English and Samoan, could help translate legal documents, navigate housing tenancy agreements, and help people understand their rights across a range of issues.
Community leadership
Recognising the urgent challenges facing new Polynesian migrants in New Zealand, Niumata became increasingly involved in community issues. In 1971 he co-founded and became president of the Pacific Islanders Housing and Welfare Association (PIHWA), which supported new migrants and temporary workers with translation services, housing, tenancy and legal issues. It held free clinics in central and south Auckland, where local Pacific leaders like John Ah Loo, Dorice Reid and K. P. Raki volunteered to provide advice to those seeking assistance in their own languages.
Niumata led a steering group to investigate the establishment of a Pacific marae in central Auckland for Polynesians to gather and hold cultural events; he believed this was essential for Pacific youth and would contribute to harmonious race relations. He also joined the board of the Pacific Islands Educational Resource Centre (PIERC), an organisation that offered courses for new migrants and assisted New Zealanders to learn Pacific languages and discover more about the cultures of their Polynesian neighbours. PIERC was located at the former Bayfield School in Herne Bay and often hosted PIHWA clinics. Niumata’s cousin, the educationalist Taulapapa Le Mamea Sefulu Ioane, was its inaugural director.
Through his extensive community work, Niumata crossed paths with other leaders and social justice activists sharing a vision of New Zealand as an inclusive, multicultural society. In the early 1970s he taught introductory Samoan language classes though the Workers’ Education Association, sponsored by the Citizens’ Association for Racial Equality (CARE). Joris de Bres, then secretary of CARE, was a neighbour in the Niumata family’s Grey Lynn street for a time, followed by Dr Oliver Sutherland and his wife, Ulla Sköld, two of the founding members of the Auckland Committee on Racial Discrimination (ACORD). A Pākehā minority in a street full of Polynesian families, the Sutherlands developed a close relationship with the Niumatas.
Niumata was not afraid to challenge injustice, racism and discrimination. He and Angela joined several demonstrations for fair housing rights for tenants and he spoke on racism experienced by Polynesians at a Young Socialists conference in April 1976, appearing alongside Oliver Sutherland and Māori activist Titewhai Harawira. As a Pacific Islander living in New Zealand, Niumata recognised Māori rights to self-determination. He supported the 506-day occupation of Takaparawhau (Bastion Point) by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei (1977-8) and He Taua student activists during the ‘haka party’ incident at the University of Auckland (1979). He opposed South African rugby tours and demonstrated outside Eden Park during the 1981 Springbok Tour. In his view, New Zealand had a long way to go to become a truly multicultural society with a bicultural foundation, but it was on its way, and everyone had a part to play.
Monitoring the police
In 1974 Norman Kirk’s Labour government responded to a perceived surge of violence in central Auckland by forming a special police task force. Critics warned of biases within the task force, especially towards Polynesians, and groups including the Polynesian Panthers, ACORD, CARE and Ngā Tamatoa formed the Coalition Against Police Oppression (CAPO) to monitor police activity.
In his capacity as PIHWA president, Niumata became a community observer, driving his car during CAPO’s Police Investigation Group (PIG) patrols, monitoring police at night to ensure their actions were not discriminatory. Over the course of two weekends, Niumata recorded every arrest and interaction of task force officers, producing a highly critical report that was quoted extensively in an ACORD publication, Task Force: an exercise in oppression (1974).
Advocacy for ‘overstayers’
In 1974 Niumata joined the fledgling Pacific Islands Advisory Council (PIAC), which was set up as a communication channel between the government and Pacific communities in Auckland and Wellington. He was part of its Samoan council as a representative of the Samoan Catholic community. Others involved in the PIAC included Andrew Afeaki, Clive Edwards, Fanaura Kingston, John Kolo, Dorice Reid, Tofa Pua Sofi, Ratu Noa Nawalowalo, and Vaiao and Erolini Alailima-Eteuati.
The PIAC was heavily involved in advocacy for Pacific communities during the 1976 Dawn Raids, with Niumata acting as a key media spokesperson. When Robert Muldoon’s National government announced a Stay of Proceedings in April, ‘overstayers’ (those who remained in the country after their entry permit had expired) had an opportunity to register and organise to return home without prosecution or apply to become permanent residents. Despite initial misgivings, Niumata and other PIAC members encouraged overstayers to sign the register before it closed a few months later. Many Samoans came to Niumata at his law firm for assistance in navigating the registration process. Ultimately, more than 4600 overstayers were registered, with 1723 eventually approved for permanent residence.
Over Labour weekend in October 1976, police commenced a controversial large-scale enforcement operation in Auckland to seek out and arrest unregistered overstayers. They used heavy-handed tactics including random checks and house raids, which disproportionately targeted Polynesian communities. Niumata was one of three Pacific leaders who spoke at an emergency meeting urgently called by the Auckland City Council, highlighting the fear and trauma felt by the entire community. Following the Labour weekend blitz, PIHWA joined other organisations calling for a full amnesty for overstayers in a full-page advertisement in the Weekend Star.
The Niumata family encountered a dawn raid firsthand when police came to their home early one morning looking for overstayers. Steve’s eldest daughter recalled how her father physically prevented them from entering, exercising his knowledge of the law and his rights as a New Zealand citizen to protect his family.
Rehabilitation – and pathways for others
By the late 1970s Niumata was struggling to cope with the demands of his family, cultural and community obligations, and had developed chronic alcoholism. In May 1982 he pled guilty to charges of theft from his employer and was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Along with his guilty plea, he voluntarily began treatment at the Wolfe Home, an inpatient alcoholism clinic close to Oakley Hospital, and made financial reparations to Langton & Halford. While serving his prison sentence he became sober and recommitted his life to Christ.
After his release, the family moved to Taranaki where in 1983 Niumata became manager of an alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre at Ngaere, near Stratford. Angela worked as a nurse while the children attended local schools. Following his time at Ngaere, he developed an alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre for women. In 1986 the family returned to Auckland where Steve joined the Salvation Army as a counsellor and facilitator for their rehabilitation programmes. His lived experience of alcoholism, and subsequent recovery, informed the programmes he managed. Sharing his own story was vital to helping others overcome addiction.
Pacific Motu Trust
While in prison, Niumata encountered many Pacific inmates who had addiction issues, lacked education and opportunities for rehabilitation, and were at risk of reoffending after release. In 1988, during a period of rapid economic change, including the decline of manufacturing and protected industries, Niumata co-founded the Pacific Motu Trust to provide culturally specific employment training and rehabilitation programmes. The trust’s first site in Morningside, Auckland, offered courses in English, carpentry, catering and hospitality, and mechanics. A second site in Mount Roskill expanded the offering to counselling, including drug and solvent abuse therapy, anger management and group therapy. At least 16 bilingual counsellors (representing the Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga and Samoa) supported programme participants, and community elders shared cultural knowledge. In 1990 the trust developed rehabilitation programmes for Pacific inmates at Pāremoremo prison, and later that decade it also offered courses in Wellington and Christchurch.
Later years and legacy
In his later life Niumata supported others to start Pacific training and counselling programmes. In the early 2000s he helped establish the Auckland Pacific Islands Cultural Social Service Provider Association, based in Grey Lynn. He served on several community governance boards and advisory groups, including the Pasifika advisory group for the Department of Corrections. In 2003 he was made a MNZM for his decades of service to the Pacific community.
Echoing his earlier advocacy, Niumata supported the Advance Pasifika movement, participating in the demonstration it organised in Auckland in June 2012. Advance Pasifika called on local and national leaders to recognise Pacific contributions to Auckland and New Zealand, demanding equality, affordable housing, better education, quality healthcare, jobs and fairness in the justice system.
On 1 August 2021, several of Niumata’s children and family members witnessed Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern deliver a formal government apology for the Dawn Raids. Steve had been invited to the ceremony but was too unwell to attend. He died two days later, on 3 August, and was buried with Angela, who had died in 2006, at Waikumete Cemetery. They were survived by five children and six grandchildren, who have continued Vui Steve Niumata’s legacy of service to Pacific communities in New Zealand.