This book was produced as an outcome of an exhibition called, Dravuni: Sivia yani na Vunilagi – Beyond the Horizon originally commissioned for the New Zealand Maritime Museum in 2016 and later re-staged in 2018 at the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture & Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.

The exhibition was co-curated by father and daughter, Kaliopate and Ema Tavola, and represented a journey exploring the intergenerational cultural transmission of Dravuni island’s origin story. The book is the illustrated origin story featuring drawings made in Dravuni in 2016 by Dravuni children; in both versions of the exhibition, the illustrations were produced as large scale wall works.

The Legend of Tanovo and Tautaumolau as told by Kaliopate Tavola with assistance from Ema Tavola, was edited by Ruth Toumu’a and published in 2017 by the Institute of Education, University of the South Pacific. It is published in both English and Fijian and represents the first book ever published in Dravuni dialect.