Mana: Protest in Print exhibition at Auckland Museum

Ia malu lou sā. Folau i lagimā. A well-grounded self is a successful self.


Central to this aspirational Samoan quote is the Gagana Samoa (Samoan language). In recognition of the 2025 Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa (Samoan Language week), we profile the Samoan writer Maulolo Asiata Wairaki Toevai, and his literary contribution to the 1977-1978 multilingual Pacific Tāmaki Makaurau newspaper, Mana. Written in seven additional languages, the newspaper was a meeting place for many communities engaged in social justice and Māori and Pacific story sovereignty.

Dive into the archives with us by visiting the Mana: Protest in Print exhibition, currently open from Dec 2024 – Oct 2026

Maulolo Asiata Wairaki Toevai

He was able to use Mana as a tool to communicate to the wider community.

Wairaki’s daughter Julia Toevai Cairns

O le faiva o Maulolo Asiata Wairaki Toevai, o le lolomiina o tusi ma tala, ma le tusia o talafou i niusipepa. Sa amata i Samoa ma fa‘aauau i Niu Sila. I le 1970 na tu‘ua ai Samoa ae malaga i Aotearoa ma lona tausi ma lo lā alo e toatasi. Sa ia mua‘i galue i lea tausaga mo le falelomitusi o le Parker Printing i Niutone, i Aukilani. Sa galue foi mo le Auckland Star, e tu‘ufa‘atasia talafou ae le‘i lolomiina. A o galue mo le Auckland Star sa talosaga e Maua Faleautu ina ia galue mo le Mana ma le CARE. Sa fa‘ato‘ā 24 pe 25 ona tausaga ‘ae galue mo le Mana e faamaumau ma faasoa atu tala fou.

 

I tua atu o lenei faiva, e tele fa‘alāpotopotoga sa ia ‘auai ma tautua i ai. O se tasi o Samoa sa ‘auai i le Pātī o le Leipa, e fa‘amālosi i tagata Pasifika e palota ina ia taulia so latou leo. O se tasi fo‘i sa fesoasoani i tagata Samoa ina ia maua ni galuega ma malamalama i le totogiina o fale po‘o le fa‘atauina o se fale  motu. Sa lotu i Newton PIC ma ia faia ni ala e fesootai ai le Mana ma faifeau o ekalesia o iai tagata Pasifika, ina ia malamalama tagata i le auaunaga a le Mana. O lo‘o pine i le sao o se tasi tamā faifeau iloga o le Ekalesia PIC, o Rev. Leuatea Siō. E le gata foi i lena, sa auai ma pu‘eina fo‘i le tele o ata i lea vaitau i fa‘atasiga o tagata Pasifika e pei o fa‘aulufalega o falesa, o umusaga o maota o faifeau faapea fo‘i ma le Umusaga o le Maota Samoa. 

 

Na vāvālalata so‘otaga ma galulue fa‘atasi ma e o lo‘o faamauina talafou i Samoa. O fesootaiga lelei ma le lagolagosua ma si ona tauusoga o Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa, o le ulua‘i fa‘atonu o le Samoan Observer na vave maua talafou i mea na tutupu i le vā o mālō e lua. 

Maulolo Asiata Wairaki Toevai

Wairaki Toevai (Afega ma Satupaitea, Samoa) was a newspaper man through and through, beginning his printing and publishing career in Samoa. Wairaki arrived in Tāmaki in 1970 and worked as a compositor for the Auckland Star before working with Mana. His strong connections to the Samoa Observer back home, where his cousin Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa was the editor, helped provide news for Samoan readers in both countries.

Wairaki was also a photographer, a Sunday school teacher, and
a member of the Samoan branch of the Labour Party. His often poetic columns aimed to help newly arrived Samoans find work and housing.

Illustration by India Taberner, based on a photograph courtesy of the Toevai family

Below, Wairaki Toevai generously shares his experience as Gagana Samoa editor for Mana.

We are grateful to have had the opportunity to speak with Wairaki, among other members of the Mana newspaper community, including editors, their friends, and whānau. These interviews are played in gallery, and are available in full on this page

Samoan article from Mana Newspaper

Mana (Auckland), 14 July 1977, Page 6


A log in the ocean

E tele o tusitusiga a Maulolo e fa‘aaogā le tomai fa‘afatusolo ma le gagana fa‘afāgogo a Samoa i le itulau e fa‘apitoa mo tusitusiga a Samoa. O ana tusitusiga e fa‘aleo foi nisi o lu‘itau ma faigata e feagai ma o tatou tagata,   e pei o itu faigata o femalaga‘iga, tulaga i le nofomau ma le nonofo aumau i Niu Sila e mamao ma le atunuu moni. E tāua tele ona o le vaitau o le Dawn Raids e aliali ai gaioiga fa‘asolitulafono ma le fa‘ailoga lanu o Niu Sila i lenā vaitaimi.

O lo‘o momoli mai e lenei tusitusiga nisi o lu‘itau, ae o se leo o se tasi o alo ma fanau e atagia ai le faatāuaina o Maulolo le leo ma le sao o tupulaga. Sa fa‘aliliu i le gagana Peretānia lenei tusitusiga, ona o talosaga a le toatele.

Wairaki sometimes used his section in Mana to lift up the voices of young people. This lyrical column was written by a student at Māngere College. In it, the student describes the hardship of being in Aotearoa without his family. By popular demand, the column was translated into English for the next edition.

Click here to view the English translation.