Searching for Sutherland

My grandfather was born in Tonga. His father was a Scotsman. My grandmother was half Yugoslav and my Mum is Australian. At last count my ancestry consisted of Scots-Tongan-Yugoslav-Maori-English-Irish. My nephew is half Japanese - so he must be even more confused about his lineage!

I've spent quite a lot of time finding information about lost relatives and working out where they came from. I know my Yugoslav great grandfather came to New Zealand to dig kauri gum in Northland. His wife was Mary Peters, whose mother, as far as I know, was a Maori woman and whose father was also Yugoslav.

I know why that side of my family came to New Zealand - it's not terribly exciting - Hundreds of Young men came from the Dalmatia Coast to New Zealand to seek their fortunes. Many of them married local women. I'm sure there are lots of stories to be told. But what I'm really interested in is why and how my great grandfather on the otherleft Scotland and ended up in Tonga.

I could understand if my great grandfather had left Scotland and emigrated to, say, New Zealand, or Australia, The United States or Canada. But my G-Grandfather settled in Tonga and I have this almost overwhelming need to find out why - not so much why he left Scotland but what his life was like before he left - what he found in Tonga - and what did he do there?

I also wanted to keep track of what I found. As I regaled a friend with my ideas about tracking my gg, she said it sounded like a great story and that I should write it down. So here goes. This is the first in what will be my research journal.