Safune

Safune
Village district
View in Safune village district, 2009
Safune
Coordinates: 13°28′14.46″S 172°25′28.35″W / 13.4706833°S 172.4245417°W / -13.4706833; -172.4245417Coordinates: 13°28′14.46″S 172°25′28.35″W / 13.4706833°S 172.4245417°W / -13.4706833; -172.4245417
Country	Samoa
District	Gagaifomauga
Population (2006)
• Total	786
Time zone	-11
Includes villages; Matavai, Faletagaloa, Fatuvalu

Safune is a traditional village district on the central north coast of Savai'i island in Samoa. It lies within the electoral constituency of Gaga'ifomauga. Safune is the birthplace of Mau leader Olaf Frederick Nelson and the filming location of Moana (1926 film), one of the first documentaries made in the world. The Mata o le Alelo pool associated with the Sina and the Eel Polynesian legend is also in Safune.

The villages within Safune are Matavai, Faletagaloa and Fatuvalu as well as smaller traditional land boundaries, Faleolo and Lalomati.

Olaf Frederick Nelson, a leader of the Mau, Samoa's independence movement during the colonial era in the early 1900s, was born in Safune on 24 February 1883. Nelson's father was a Swedish immigrant trader. His mother Sina Masoe was from Safune. In 1900, at the age of 17, Nelson worked for his father's store in Safune. When his father retired in 1903, Nelson expanded the family business. In 1904, he purchased a boat called 'Lily' to ship copra to sell in Apia. By 1906 he was shipping directly to Sydney. He set up trading stations on Savai'i and Upolu. Nelson went on to become one of the wealthiest men in Samoa. In 1928, the colonial administration exiled Nelson to New Zealand for his leadership in the Mau movement.

In Samoan mythology, the fresh spring pool Mata o le Alelo, in the village of Matavai in Safune is associated with the Polynesian legend of Sina and the Eel. The pool is looked after by women in the village and is open to visitors and tourists. The legend explains the origins of the first coconut tree.