From teen journalist to Polyfest mum: Stewart reflects on 50 years of culture and legacy

As Polyfest marks its 50th anniversary, award-winning Tongan-Fijian journalist Indira Stewart marks the milestone with the release of a two-part documentary.

The Untold Legacy and The Fight for Survival explore the rich history and enduring impact of New Zealand’s largest Pacific cultural festival.

In an interview with Niu FM’s The Morning Shack from the flag-raising ceremony at Polyfest, which opened on Tuesday, Stewart describes an electric atmosphere as dignitaries and alumni gather together.

“It’s buzzy, it’s amazing,” she says. “We expect something big for the 50th, but seeing people like Papa Te Kepa Stirling, a Māori education stalwart who was part of the festival but left in 1996, being honoured today, it’s just beautiful.”

For Stewart, Polyfest is deeply personal.

“It’s in our blood now. My first job as a reporter was at 15, covering Polyfest for Tagata Pasifika.

“Twenty-five years later, to be here as an old bag, but also a Polyfest mum and the team pinning up the girls here and helping out students at my own school and the Tongan group.

“It never goes away for us because it's such a taonga for us. And how cool it is to have this in Aotearoa, the biggest festival of its kind in the world. It's something to be proud of.”

That sense of legacy sits at the heart of Stewart’s documentary work.

Indira Stewart, front second from the right, performs with the Auckland Girls' Grammar School's Tongan group. Photo/Supplied

While the story of Polyfest might seem familiar to many, she is determined to uncover the parts that have never been told.

“This is the kind of story we think we know,” she says. “It's like trolling for a treasure chest for the Polyfest story.”

She finds that the original students who, as teenagers in 1976, came up with the idea for the festival during the height of the Dawn Raids.

“What we did was I hunted down the very first students who came up with the idea for Polyfest in 1976, found them and you'll see you'll see and hear the story in our documentary but they were just a bunch of 16 and 17-year-old kids.

A Sāmoan dance at the South Auckland Research Centre in Mangere, 1992. Photo/Auckland Libraries

“One of them was Māori, and all they wanted to do was embrace their Pasifika mates, and this was at the peak of the Dawn Raids.”

Stewart explains the documentary's first part, The Untold Legacy, which brings together the founders of Polyfest at its inaugural venue, Hillary College.

“They basically performed for them and gave them their thanks to the seed that they planted, and then those ex-students from 1976, they are almost 70 now, got up and performed that to them, and it was just one of the most magical things to be able to share in this story.”

The second part, The Fight for Survival, highlights the financial challenges the festival currently faces.

Watch the ASB Polyfest 2025 trailer below.

“As you guys know, lots of funds have been cut, but we need this taonga to survive, and so we race to the stage because they deserve good investment," Stewart says.

The Untold Legacy is now streaming on TVNZ+, with The Fight for Survival set to release next week.