Skip to main content

Story: Tongans

Tongan overstayers

Audio file

In the 1960s and 1970s many Tongans stayed on beyond their three-month work permit. In 1974 the New Zealand government announced an amnesty: they were to return to Tonga by a set time or be arrested. In this interview the Tongan lawyer Clive Edwards discusses the panic caused by this announcement. Eventually the police began making dawn raids on the overstayers. The flyer records a protest in March, 1974, following one of the first dawn raids.

Using this item

Auckland Council Libraries − Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero o Tāmaki Makaurau

Reference: Race - New Zealand Issues Record ID 31

Sound file from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Radio New Zealand collection. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Reference 1408

Permission of Auckland City Libraries Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero o Tāmaki Makaurau must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Melenaite Taumoefolau, Tongans – Migrations, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/speech/3905/tongan-overstayers (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Melenaite Taumoefolau, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 July 2024.