Untold Pacific History - Season 2 Episode 3: Papa Tom - From The Seas To The Stars

Papa Tom's quest for truth, history and culture has taken him around the world and even out of space, but it was in Aotearoa and the Cook Islands that it all began.

The extraordinary Cook Islander who was the first person from NZ to work for NASA, was also one of the grandfathers of traditional vaka sailing in the Pacific. Sir Papa Tom Davis is still little known to many generations of young Pacific people and to the NZ public in general.

This mini-doco biopic will look at the life of this extraordinary Cook Islander, who smashed new global frontiers in space and the ocean in a life that spanned so many fields of work.

Putting Polynesians out to sea and also into outer space, are just part of a long list of what he counted as significant moments in his lifetime, which saw him be the first Cook Islands Harvard graduate, a game-changing medical doctor in Aotearoa and the Cook Islands, and a champion boxer to boot.

Papa Tom’s story is an important one to tell as a more personalised view of Pacific history, and the inspirational way that game-changers were able to effect the course of history for Pacific people. Told via an archival interview with Papa Tom, and significant people from across the Moana and Aotearoa, this bio pic merges old Pacific worlds with the impact that Papa Tom had on modern generations today.