Over the last century, sources as diverse as missionary publications, tourist brochures, travel books, paintings, postcards and museum displays have inspired a fascination and romance with the islands of the 'South Seas' - amongst them, Tonga, Western Samoa, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. Illustrated throughout with photographs taken from a major collection held at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, this book provides a unique insight into an area that is much romanticized. The three accompanying essays explore how we have come to understand and 'see' the islands through these images and the imaginations of explorers and travellers, and consider how a colonial presence has been inscribed on the region. Pirating the Pacific is compelling reading for anyone interested in visual culture and colonial history.