Oala Oala-Rarua (12 June 1934 – 17 May 1980) was a Papua New Guinean educator, civil servant, trade unionist, politician and diplomat. He served as a member of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

and Assistant Minister for the Treasury between 1968 and 1972, later becoming the first Lord Mayor of

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

and High Commissioner to Australia.

Biography

Oala-Rarua was born in Pari in June 1934, the son of Asi (née Daroa) and Oala Oala-Rarua.Oala-Rarua, Oala (1934–1980)
Australian Dictionary of Biography He was educated at local schools, before training to be a teacher at Sogeri. He initially worked at a teacher at the same school in Sogeri, before moving onto the Kwato missionary school in Milne Bay in 1955. In 1957 he was appointed headmaster of Kerepuni school, and later studied at the

University of Papua New Guinea The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is a university located in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea. It was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired ...

. In 1961 he unsuccessfully contested

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

to the Legislative Council. In 1962 he moved to Port Moresby to become an assistant to Assistant Administrator John Thomson Gunther. He joined the Welder's Club of Port Moresby, and was elected president of the Port Moresby Workers' Association the same year, a role he held until 1965. He also became a member of the territory's Council of

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

Association.''Members of the Second House of Assembly'', p44 In 1964 he contested the elections to the House of Assembly in the Moresby constituency, losing to Eriko Rarupu. The following year he founded the United National Party, after which he resigned from the civil service. In 1967 he was involved in the establishment of the

Pangu Party The Pangu Pati, also known as the Pangu Party or Papua and Niugini Union Pati, is a political party in Papua New Guinea. As of September 2019, the party had 23 of 111 seats in the National Parliament. History The party was founded in June 1967 ...

and was elected to the House from the Central Provincial constituency in the 1968 elections. Following the elections, he was appointed Assistant Minister for the Treasury. In 1971 he was a candidate to become Secretary-General of the

South Pacific Commission The Pacific Community (PC), formerly the South Pacific Commission (SPC), is an international development organisation governed by 27 members, including 22 Pacific island countries and territories. The organisation's headquarters are in Nouméa, ...

. However, after a tie in the first round of voting, he withdrew from the contest, allowing Fred Betham to win. Oala-Rarua did not run for re-election in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

after being appointed to the Public Services Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunal. He had been elected president of Port Moresby local council in 1971, and became its first Lord Mayor when it was granted city status later in 1972. In 1974 he was appointed High Commissioner to Australia, After resigning from the role in late 1976, he unsuccessfully ran in the Moresby South constituency in the 1977 elections.Papua New Guinea Election Results 1972–2012
Development Policy Centre He subsequently went into business. He died in Port Moresby General Hospital in May 1980 after suffering a stroke, survived by his wife and five children.Oala Oala-Rarua
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', July 1980, p82Political pioneer dies in hospital
''Papua New Guinea Post-Courier'', 19 May 1980

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oala-Rarua, Oala 1934 births University of Papua New Guinea alumni Papua New Guinean educators Papua New Guinean trade unionists Papua New Guinean civil servants Members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea Papua New Guinean diplomats 1980 deaths