Vin ToBaining (died 1995) was one of the first six elected indigenous members of the colonial-era

Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea The Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea was a legislative body in Papua New Guinea between 1951 and 1963. It was established by the ''Papua and New Guinea Act 1949'' of Australia, which provided for the combined administration of the Terr ...

, between 1961 and 1963. Subsequently, he was involved in the formation 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 ...

in 1967, which went on the form the government of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

(PNG) when the country became independent in 1975.

Early life

Vin ToBaining was a Tolai from what is now the

East New Britain Province East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely d ...

of PNG. He came from a farming family. His date of birth is unknown but he is known to have been over 80 when he died.

Political involvement

ToBaining was a strong supporter of local-level government. He was elected as president of the Vunamami local government council in 1951 and subsequently of the

Gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...

local government council. He was instrumental in the formation of the Tolai Cocoa Project in the 1950s, designed to improve the quality of cocoa-processing facilities for local farmers on the Gazelle Peninsula. When the Australian administration of the

Territory of Papua and New Guinea The Territory of Papua and New Guinea, officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New G ...

decided that the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea should have six elected Papua New Guinean members in the 1961 elections, ToBaining was elected to represent

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

, as a member of the United Progress Party. In 1961, he was chosen to be a member of the Australian delegation to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

.New Faces in P-NG Council
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', April 1961, p18 In 1964, the Territory of Papua and New Guinea introduced a new 64-member

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 ...

, which had 54 elected members. In the 1964 election ToBaining failed to be elected in the East New Britain constituency, being soundly defeated by Koriam Urekit. In 1967, nine members of the House of Assembly came together to form the

, together with others that included

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 26 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the "father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...

, the future prime minister of an independent Papua New Guinea, and ToBaining, who became one of its four rotating chairmen. In the 1968 elections ToBaining was again defeated, this time by Oscar Tammur. Subsequently, he left the Pangu Party and became president of the newly formed Melanesian Independence Party, which had a policy of achieving independence for the islands of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, specifically New Britain, New Ireland, Bouganville, and the

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-co ...

Death

ToBaining died on 2 April 1995 in his home village in East New Britain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ToBaining, Vin Pangu Party politicians People from East New Britain Province Members of the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea Year of birth uncertain 1955 deaths