This Kupega Ta O is hand knotted and made of coconut fibre. It is the last known fishing net of this type and used to catch ‘O’, a species of small fish. Pandora Fulimalo Pereira (Curator, Pacific) explains that “the kupega

(owned by the community) was exchanged for a large nylon fishing net. It is a very heavy kupega and when wet even more so. So the toeina (male elders) thought to exchange it for a much lighter net of synthetic material.” This Kupega Ta O is part of a collection of koa Tokelau, Tokelau treasures, donated to Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum by the late Professor Antony Hooper.

Based on the following Kupega Ta O (Fishing net) – Collection of Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira, 1973.36, 46017

Reverend Iutana Pue is a Church Minister for Tokelau Congregational Christian Church Auckland. He has been serving and living in Ōtara, South Auckland, with his wife Matālele Pue and their four children: Timena, Hinalagi, Kuata and Savaka, for the past 11 years.

He is very passionate about the Tokelau language, and advocating for the language to be maintained and encouraged to be learnt.

Reverend Pue holds a BA, majoring in Linguistics and Education from Victoria University of Wellington, and a Bachelor of Divinity, majoring in Theology, from Malua Theological College in Sāmoa. In 2017, he received a Graduate Certificate in Interpreting from Auckland University of Technology.

He is currently part of a group working on proofreading the Tokelau Old Testament and they are in the final stages before printing the Tokelau Bible.

Paper gifted by Rev. Iutana Pue - see link below.