[2] The stadium, new Atele gymnasium, and tennis courts, were built or refurbished with the aid of Taiwan and France.

[1] The venues were eventually completed just in time for the games following some controversy in the preceding months with the construction alarmingly behind schedule.

[3] Sixteen Pacific nations participated in the Games:[4] The six sports contested at the 1989 South Pacific Mini Games were:[1] Western Samoa topped the medal count:[4] ^a Western Samoa won six gold medals in the boxing competition that captured the local people's imagination – as reported by Pacific islands Monthly, "it seemed half of Nuku'alof was crammed into the indoor stadium".

[5] ^b Golf: Fiji, captained by Adi Sainimili Tuivanuavou, won the women's team bronze at the 1989 South Pacific Mini Games.

[7] ^d Nauru's 18-year-old Marcus Stephens broke all three South Pacific Games records in the 60 kg weightlifting class.