Tongan Culture

The primary author of this profile is Chara Scroope (2018). The ‘Tongans in Australia’ section was updated in 2025.

• Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021a). 4-digit level ANCP Ancestry Multi Response by Australia (UR) (2021 Census of Population and Housing) [Data set]. ABS Census TableBuilder.
• Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021b). People in Australia who were born in Tonga [Data set]. 2021 Census Country of Birth QuickStats. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/1508_AUS
• Australian Trade and Investment Commission. (2024). Doing business in The Pacific. Market Explorer Tool. https://export.business.gov.au/find-export-markets/market-explorer-tool/market-explorer-results/all/all/pac
• Bennardo, G. (2001). Tonga. In M. Ember & C. R. Ember (Eds.), Countries and Their Cultures: Saint Kitts and Nevis to Zimbabwe (Vol. 4, pp. 2231–2237). Macmillan Reference USA; Advameg. https://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Tonga.html
• Bennett, S. N., Plant, H., & Boekweg, M. (2017). Tongan Culture [Online Textbook]. Polynesian Culture. https://freebooks.uvu.edu/polynesian_culture/05_Tongan_Culture.php
• Central Intelligence Agency. (2024, November 12). Tonga. The World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/tonga/
• Clear Horizon. (2023). Pacific Labour Growth Independent Evaluatio: Prepared for Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (19319). Clear Horizon.
• Colson, E. (2006). Tonga Religious Life in the Twentieth Century. Gadsden Publishers.
• Culture Crossing Guide. (2017). Tonga. Culture Crossing Guide. https://guide.culturecrossing.net/basics_business_student.php?id=205
• Daly, M. (2009). Tonga: A New Bibliography. University of Hawai’i Press.
• Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. (2024). Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme Data (Data Summary September quarter 2024). Australian Government.
• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. (2024). Tonga country brief [Government Website]. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tonga/tonga-country-brief
• Department of Home Affairs. (2018). Tonga-born Community Information Summary (Census of Population and Housing 2016, Country Data Summary). Commonwealth of Australia. https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/mca/files/2016-cis-tonga.PDF
• Evans, M. (2001). Persistence of the Gift: Tongan Tradition in Transnational Context. Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
• Goodman, M. A. (2008). Church Growth in Tonga Historical and Cultural Connections. In R. L. Neilson, S. C. Harper, C. K. Manscill, & M. J. Woodger (Eds.), Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: The Pacific Isles (Vol. 8, pp. 37–54). Brigham Young University.
• Kaeppler, A. L. (1971). Rank in Tonga. Ethnology, 10(2), 174–193. https://doi.org/10.2307/3773008
• Khalidi, S. (with ACT Office of Multicultural, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs). (2012). The Cultural Dictionary and Directory of People from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds (F. McIlroy & H. Neumayer, Eds.; 3rd ed.). Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services of the ACT Inc. https://marss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/The_Cultural_Dictionary.pdf
• Latukefu, S., & Foster, S. (2024). Tonga. In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Tonga
• Lee, H. (2018). Becoming Tongan today. In J. Connell & H. Lee (Eds.), Change and Continuity in the Pacific: Revisiting the Region (pp. 118–135). Routledge.
• Lee, H., & Francis, S. T. (Eds.). (2009). Migration and Transnationalism: Pacific Perspectives. ANU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/MT.08.2009
• Lift Education. (2010). Faufaua!: An Introduction to Tongan: Teachers’ Guide and Support Materials. South Pacific Press.
• Mahina, ‘Okusitino, & Ka’ili, T. O. (2017). Marking Indigeneity: The Tongan Art of Sociospatial Relations. University of Arizona Press. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/208/monograph/book/55024
• Metro South Health. (2015, March). Food and cultural practices of the Tongan community in Australia. Queensland Government. https://www.metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/242251/cultural-profile-tongan.pdf
• Migration Policy Institute. (2011). Remittances Profile: Tonga. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/Tonga.pdf
• Morton, H. (1998). Creating Their Own Culture: Diasporic Tongans. The Contemporary Pacific, 10(1), 1–30.
• Museums Victoria. (2017). Immigration History from Tonga to Victoria. Origins. https://origins.museumsvictoria.com.au/countries/tonga
• ProQuest. (2017). Kingdom of Tonga. ProQuest & Brigham Young University. https://proquest.libguides.com/culturegrams
• Reeson, M. (2013). Pacific Missionary George Brown 1835–1917. ANU Press. https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/pacific-missionary-george-brown-1835–1917
• Robbins, J. (2006). Pacific Islands Religious Communities. In M. Juergensmeyer (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions (pp. 587–594). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195137989.003.0057
• Safari the Globe. (2014, March). Tonga. Safari the Globe: Cultural Information. https://safaritheglobe.com/tonga/
• Siikala, J. (Ed.). (2021). Culture and History in the Pacific (2nd ed.). Helsinki University Press. https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-12
• Sperry, K. (2008). Oral Genealogies in the Pacific Islands. In R. L. Neilson, S. C. Harper, C. K. Manscill, & M. J. Woodger (Eds.), Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: The Pacific Isles (Vol. 8, pp. 75–92). Brigham Young University. https://rsc.byu.edu/regional-studies-latter-day-saint-church-history-pacific-isles/oral-genealogies-pacific-islands
• Statistics Department Tonga. (2022). Tonga 2021 Census of Population and Housing: Volume 1 Basic Tables (TSD:47-43). Tonga Department of Statistics.
• Statistics Department Tonga. (2024). Tonga 2021 Census of Population and Housing: Volume 2 Analytical Report (TSD:47-47). Tonga Department of Statistics.
• Taungapeau, M. (2014, September 2). Ko e Kai ia ‘a e Tonga. National Library of New Zealand. https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/ko-e-kai-ia-a-e-tonga
• Transparency International. (2024). Corruption Perceptions Index 2023 (Annual CPI Report). https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2023
• Veys, F. W. (2020). Unwrapping Tongan Barkcloth: Encounters, Creativity and Female Agency. Bloomsbury Academic.