Neli Lifuka was born in 1909 on

Vaitupu Vaitupu is the largest atoll of the nation of Tuvalu. It is located at 7.48 degrees south and 178.83 degrees east. There are 1,061 people (2017 Census) living on with the main village being Asau. Geography The island, which covers approxima ...

, he worked as a

marine engineer Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...

and from 1945 to 1951 he was the

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

on Vaitupu. He organised the collection of the funds necessary to purchase

Kioa KIOA (93.3 FM) is a commercial radio station in Des Moines, Iowa. It is owned by the Des Moines Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communications and airs a Classic Hits radio format. The station's studios are located at 1416 Locust Street along w ...

island in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

in 1946 and in 1956 he joined the Kioa community and became the chairman of the council.

Early life

Neli Lifuka was educated at Elisefou school, which were turbulent years as he was in conflict with

Donald Gilbert Kennedy Donald Gilbert Kennedy (March 1898 – 1976) was a teacher, then an administrator in the British colonial service in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. For his services as a Coastwatcher during t ...

, the headmaster. He gained employment on freighters and on the phosphate boats that worked at

Banaba Island BanabaThe correct spelling and etymology in Gilbertese should be ''Bwanaba'' but the Constitution of Kiribati writes Banaba. Because of the spelling in English or French, the name was very often written Paanapa or Paanopa, as it was in 1901 Ac ...

(Ocean Island). He was promoted to be an engineer. He also work on a government boat and a missionary vessel; with each of these jobs he resigned after arguing with his commanding officers over pay and conditions. Kennedy, who in 1932 became the resident District Officer at

Funafuti Funafuti is the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 6,320 people (2017 census), and so it has more people than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with approximately 60% of the population. It consists of a narrow sweep of la ...

for the

Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...

Colony, gave him work blasting reef passages. He was given a job on Ocean Island as a hospital dresser and as the Ellice community liaison person. He ended up leading a strike of Ellice Island workers against the

British Phosphate Commission The British Phosphate Commissioners (BPC) was a board of Australian, British, and New Zealand representatives who managed extraction of phosphate from Christmas Island, Nauru, and Banaba (Ocean Island) from 1920 until 1981. Nauru was a mandate te ...

World War II

During the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

Neli Lifuka was on Vaitupu working as a

Coastwatcher The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II t ...

to identify any Japanese activity. He was later engaged in organising Tuvaluans to work at

on building the American base and unloading ships.

Post-War years

After World War II Kennedy encouraged Neli Lifuka in the resettlement proposal that resulted in the purchase of

island in

in 1946. Neli Lifuka organised the collection of the funds to purchase Kioa.Michael Goldsmith, ''Review of Klaus-Friedrich Koch, Logs in the Current of the Sea'', Journal of the Polynesian Society, 87:4 (1978), 361-62 Initially 37 people migrated from Vaitupu to live on Kioa Island; within a decade, more than 235 people followed. In June 1945 Neli Lifuka was appointed the magistrate on Vaitupu. He alienated Colonial administrators for not strictly enforcing laws. He also alienated some of the elders because of his comparative young age to be person in authority in the Vaitupuan community. He resigned in 1951 after being caught ''

in flagrante delicto ''In flagrante delicto'' (Latin for "in blazing offence") or sometimes simply ''in flagrante'' ("in blazing") is a legal term used to indicate that a criminal has been caught in the act of committing an offence (compare ). The colloquial "caught ...

'' with the pastor’s wife. Thereafter he worked for the Colony Cooperative Society and again worked on an inter-island vessel. In 1956, he joined the Kioa community and became the chairman of its council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lifuka, Neli 1909 births People from Vaitupu 1980 deaths