Bulletin

Issue: January/February 2007

Research in Action

How long can Tongans survive like this?

More than half the national income of the South Pacific nation of Tonga comes from remittances from Tongans who have migrated to Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

But how long can this resource-poor little nation of around 100,000 inhabitants continue to be sustained by the generosity of its people living abroad?

Supported by a $179,000 ARC grant, La Trobe University anthropology senior lecturer, Dr Helen Lee, seeks answers to this - and other questions like it. (See main story, Pacific transnationalism in crisis)

An expert on issues affecting the Tongan diaspora, Dr Lee says issues like these are not simply academic; they have implications for Tongans at home and abroad.

For Tongans at home who rely on remittances, it’s a question of economic survival; for second generation Tongans abroad, it’s more about cultural and national identity.

Tongans living abroad, both first and second generation migrants, also number close to 100,000 and currently send more than $AUD115 million a year to relatives in Tonga - that is, more than half the nation’s foreign earnings.

Migration has long been a major issue in this archipelago nation of 169 tiny islands, of which only 36 are inhabited.

Formerly known as ‘The Friendly Islands’, Tonga was united into a Polynesian kingdom in 1845, became the Pacific’s only constitutional monarchy in 1875, a British protectorate in 1900, and gained independence in 1970.

With its limited production of fish and agricultural goods, Tonga must import a high proportion of its food, mainly from New Zealand, and tourism is its second largest source of hard currency, after remittances from Tongans abroad.

High unemployment, particularly among the young, results in an ongoing flow of Tongans to other countries, principally New Zealand but also to Australia and the USA.

Dr Lee’s research examines the transnational practices of second generation 18 to 30-year-olds among the 15,000 Tongans living in Australia - those who were born in Australia and those who arrived before primary school age. It concentrates on Tongans living in five cities and two regional towns in Australia.

The study indicates second generation Tongans in Australia, New Zealand and the USA are much less inclined to remit money as their cultural and social ties to their parents’ homeland dissipate.

Assisting Dr Lee are anthropologist Dr Steve Francis and social worker Ms Meliame Fifita, and a team of five other Tongans conducting interviews in the different locations. All are second generation Tongans themselves.