Fraser MacDonald Colman (23 February 1925 – 11 April 2008) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He represented the electorates of

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in P ...

from

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

to 1978, and then when Petone was renamed,

Pencarrow Pencarrow ( kw, Pennkarow) is a Grade II*-listed country house in the civil parish of Egloshayle, in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated three miles (5 km) east-southeast of Wadebridge and three miles (5 km) nort ...

from 1978 to 1987, when he retired. He was the cabinet minister chosen to represent New Zealand in 1973 on its warships during their protest against the

nuclear weapons testing Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...

carried out by France.

Early life and family

Colman was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

on 23 February 1925, one of five children of Kenneth and Emily Colman. He attended primary school in Wellington before his family moved to

Paraparaumu Paraparaumu () is a town in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It lies on the Kapiti Coast, north of the nation's capital city, Wellington. Like other towns in the area, it has a partner settlement at the coast called Paraparaumu Bea ...

, where he went to

Horowhenua College Horowhenua College is a state co-educational secondary school located in Levin, New Zealand. The school has students from Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18) as of . It was opened in 1940, replacing the secondary school department of Levin School. It ...

. Upon leaving school he found employment as a

boilermaker A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US De ...

at the firm of William Cables; he worked in that profession for 13 years. He soon became active in the union movement, becoming a shop steward. He joined the Labour party, organising and distributing pamphlets and writing for the Labour Party newspaper, ''The Southern Cross''. In 1958, Colman married Noeline Jean Allen, after first meeting her in 1954, and the couple went on to have four children. They moved to

Wainuiomata Wainuiomata () is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. Origin of name The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer ...

in 1959, where they built a home and lived the remainder of their life.

Political career

He served as campaign manager for

Henry May Henry May may refer to: *Henry May (American politician) (1816–1866), U.S. Representative from Maryland * Henry May (New Zealand politician) (1912–1995), New Zealand politician * Henry May (VC) (1885–1941), Scottish recipient of the Victoria C ...

in the electorate in . In 1955 he became assistant general secretary of the Labour Party. He held the position until he was persuaded to stand for Labour in the by-election for the electorate in 1967 following the death in office of Mick Moohan, its existing MP. He was elected in the 15 April . He held Petone until it was abolished in 1978. He represented the electorate, which replaced Petone, from 1978 to 1987.

Third Labour Government

He was a Cabinet Minister in the third Labour Government. In the cabinet of

Norman Kirk Norman Eric Kirk (6 January 1923 – 31 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. Born into poverty in Southern Canterbury, Kirk left school at a ...

, he held the positions of Minister of Mines (1972–1974), Minister of Immigration (1972–1974), Associate Minister of Labour, and Associate Minister of Works. In the cabinet of Bill Rowling, he was Minister of Mines, Minister of Immigration and Postmaster-General (all 1974–1975).

Mururoa

In 1973, the government decided to dispatch a

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

frigate to protest against French nuclear testing on

Mururoa Atoll Moruroa (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is located about southeast of Tahiti. Administratively Moruroa Atoll i ...

in the South Pacific. It was decided that a cabinet minister should accompany the frigate to demonstrate the seriousness of the New Zealand government's position. Norman Kirk put all the Cabinet ministers' names into a hat and drew out the name of Colman. He departed from Auckland on 28 June aboard the Otago, which reached Mururoa a month later where he witnessed the first atmospheric test. Colman transferred to the Canterbury when it arrived to relieve the Otago, from which he witnessed the second French atmospheric test.

Opposition

Following the defeat of the Third Labour Government he held the position of Opposition Spokesman on Immigration. In 1977 he became Shadow Minister of Energy and in 1978 Shadow Minister for the Environment as well. A year later he was allocated the Housing portfolio by Rowling instead. Ahead of the 1981 election he was shifted to be Shadow Minister of Transport. After the election he became Shadow Minister of Works and Shadow Minister of Mines. When

David Lange David Russell Lange ( ; 4 August 1942 – 13 August 2005) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. Lange was born and brought up in Otahuhu, the son of a medical doctor. He became ...

replaced Rowling as leader Colman retained the Works portfolio. He criticised the Muldoon Government for outsourcing the construction of many

Think Big In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...

projects, including hiring foreign contractors at the Clyde Dam, rather than using the

Ministry of Works and Development The New Zealand Ministry of Works and Development, formerly the Department of Public Works and often referred to as the Public Works Department or PWD, was founded in 1876 and disestablished and privatised in 1988. The Ministry had its own Cabi ...

employees, stating the government "sacrificed the ministry to private enterprise."

Fourth Labour Government

In the fourth Labour Government, he again served as a cabinet minister holding the posts of Minister of Works and Development, Minister in Charge of the Earthquake and War Damages Commission, and Associate Minister of Energy. He ended the policy of the Muldoon Government of outsourcing works projects to contractors which he had previously been critical of. He also expanded the scope of the Ministry of Works and Development to include constructing irrigation infrastructure.

Life after politics

Colman retired from Parliament at the 1987 election. He was replaced in Pencarrow by

Sonja Davies Sonja Margaret Loveday Davies (née Vile; 11 November 1923 – 12 June 2005) was a New Zealand trade unionist, peace campaigner, and Member of Parliament. On 6 February 1987, Davies was the third appointee to the Order of New Zealand."The ...

. He was subsequently appointed as chairman of the New Zealand Fire Service Council for a three-year term. Colman had a stroke in 1991. Another stroke in 1999 removed his ability to speak. He died on 11 April 2008, and was survived by his wife and three of their four daughters.

Honours and awards

In 1977, Colman was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council in 1985, and in 1990 received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. In the

1992 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1992 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countri ...

, Colman was made a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services. His wife, Noeline, had previously been appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service in the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours. Colman was a life member of the Wellington Rugby League Club.

Honorific eponym

Fraser Colman Grove, a street in Wainuiomata is named after him.

Notes

References

External links

Mururoa Veterans website
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Colman, Fraser 1925 births 2008 deaths Companions of the Queen's Service Order New Zealand Labour Party MPs People from Wellington City Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand New Zealand members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Hutt Valley electorates 20th-century New Zealand politicians People educated at Horowhenua College