- 1958-04-21 — The first local spiritual assembly in the Kingdom of Tonga was formed at Nuku'alofa.
- 1966-09-11 —
The rescue of six Tongan boys from the uninhabited island of 'Ata by Peter Warner and his crew on his yacht the Just David. The boys, all students at St Andrew's College, had stolen a 25 foot whaling boat and, on their first night at sea, had lost the sails and the rudder in a storm. They lost the little food they had carried as well. They were adrift for 8 days without water before reaching the island in June 1965. By the time Warner arrived, the boys had set up a commune with a food garden, hollowed-out trees to store rainwater, a gymnasium, badminton court, chicken enclosures. and a permanent fire. [Wikipedia]
- This documentary was made in 1966 shortly after the rescue.
- Here is Peter Warner's own story of the rescue.
- A documentary has been made of the experience. Here is the trailer.
- In 1974 Peter Warner was once more in the right spot at the right time, when he rescued a shipwrecked sailing crew on Middleton Reef in the Tasman Sea, with the help of Sione Filipe Totau, one of the Tongans he had rescued earlier.
- Mr Warner lived in Tonga for thirty years where he became a Bahá'í and help found Ocean of Light International School. His time there was documented in his autobiography called Ocean of Light: 30 Years in Tonga and the Pacific. In the 1990s he moved to the Northern Rivers of NSW, and become a noted macadamia farmer and tree manager near Lismore, before settling in Ballina. This period of his life was covered in his autobiography Twilight of the Dawn.
- He died on the 13th of April 2021 at the age of 90 after his boat capsized during an attempted crossing of the Ballina Bar in rough conditions.
[The Echo]
- 1970-04-21 —
The National Spiritual Assembly of Tonga and the Cook Islands was formed with its seat in Nuku'alofa. [BW15:275]
- For picture see BW15:146.
- 1985-04-21 —
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Cook Islands was formed with its seat in Rarotonga. It was formerly in a union with Tonga and so this left the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of Tonga with its seat in The National Spiritual Assembly of Tonga and the Cook Islands was formed with its seat in Nuku'alofa. [BW15:275]. [BW19:62, 168]
- French Polynesia, which had been under the direction of the National Spiritual Assembly of New Caledonia was transferred to the newly-elected National Assembly of the Cook Islands.
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