Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III: A Peaceful, Powerful Resistance

Do you know the story of Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III?

He was one of the leaders of O le Mau a Samoa, Samoa’s resistance against New Zealand rule in the early 1900s… and in 1929, he was one of several Samoans shot to death by New Zealand police during a peaceful march along Apia’s beach front.

In recent years, New Zealand’s government has officially apologized for this tragedy (and a few other things), and our two countries now enjoy a fairly solid relationship.

But it is so important for us to know our Samoan history – to appreciate the struggles and ultimate sacrifices our ancestors made for our basic freedoms and dignity.

Let’s talk story.

New Zealand in Samoa

It began in 1914, when at the outset of World War 1, the Germans withdrew from Western Samoa, and New Zealand took control on behalf of Great Britain.

Because of the war, New Zealand was pretty much left by the British to govern the Samoan islands however way they wanted, and by just about every account, New Zealand wasn’t the greatest of colonial masters.

Their general attitude towards Samoans was that we were ‘childlike’, says journalist Michael Field. They imposed oppressive regulations about who we could marry, how we ran our businesses and how much power our traditional governing systems (fa’amatai) could have.

The Spanish Influenza

Then in 1918, a deadly strain of influenza, called the Spanish Flu, broke out in NZ and spread to Samoa later that year, killing over 8500 people. That was more than 20 percent of our population!

What happened was that New Zealand officials failed to quarantine a ship called the Talune, which carried severely ill passengers into Samoa.

Apparently, this was typical of NZ’s inconsistent governance of the islands. On the one hand, they set up strict policies to control us, and on the other hand, they were careless with our health and welfare.

Samoa had had enough.

Resistance

A decade earlier in 1908, the Mau a Pule – a resistance against foreign rule – had formed in Savai’i to oppose the German occupation of Samoa.

That movement died down when the Germans exiled senior leaders of the Mau to Micronesian islands.

But now, against NZ rule, it was time for Le Mau the sequel: Samoa mo Samoa.

A New Resistance

An afakasi businessman and statesman named Taisi Olaf F. Nelson became a founding member of the new Mau.

In 1926, he visited the NZ capital of Wellington to petition the government to allow Samoans more freedom to self-govern.

Ta’isi O. F. Nelson, London 1930

In 1927, Nelson published a newspaper called the ‘Samoa Guardian’ to support the movement.

In 1928 he was exiled from Samoa, along with two other members of the Mau, but he used those five years away to take his protests all the way to the League of Nations in Geneva.

In Nelson’s absence, the Mau continued to resist NZ.

Led now by Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III, they continued to use civil disobedience as a way to get their message across.

They refused to pay taxes, boycotted imported goods and ignored the New Zealand officials who visited their villages.

Then, Black Saturday

The 28th of December 1929 is now known as Samoa’s Black Saturday.

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III led the Mau on a march down the Beach Road of Apia to meet other members of the movement who had just returned from deportation to Auckland.

The peaceful demonstration erupted into violence when the NZ military police opened fire on the marchers.

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III rushed to the front of the crowd and urged his people – who had begun to throw rocks – to be still, filemu.

A single bullet from behind brought him down.

Other Samoan men who rushed to help the leader were also killed. When it was over, 8 people were dead (3 died later) – including Leota Anese, Faumuina of Savai’i, Tu’ia and Migao – and around 50 were injured.

As he lay dying, Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III continued to plead for peace:

“My blood has been spilt for Samoa. I am proud to give it. Do not dream of avenging it, as it was spilt in peace. If I die, peace must be maintained at any price.”

So that’s the story.

Mau leader Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III, assassinated by NZ Colonial Police. By Alfred John Tattersall – National Library of New Zealand, Public Domain

A Legacy of Peace

Because the New Zealand administration launched a cover-up campaign after the events of Samoa’s Black Saturday, the story had to be pieced together over the decades from various accounts.

You’ll probably find the most thorough re-telling of this dark passage of Samoan history in a book called, Black Saturday: New Zealand’s tragic blunders in Samoa, by NZ-born Pacific journalist Michael Field.

In his research, Michael Field came across an elderly Auckland woman who was there in Apia the day Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III was killed.

Agnes Heeny was 7 years old when she witnessed the shooting, and the incredible experience is recounted in an article written to commemorate the 2007 aniversary of the tragic events.

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III is a significant figure in history because of his martyrdom in Samoa’s struggle for freedom, but it is his legacy of peace that has made him a Samoan icon.

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