Vainerere Tangatapoto
Member of the Legislative Assembly
In office
1968–1983
Preceded byMariri Paratainga
In office
1958–1965
ConstituencyAtiu
Personal details
Born1 July 1912
Atiu, Cook Islands
Died19 January 1986(1986-01-19) (aged 73)
Mangaia, Cook Islands

Vainerere Tangatapoto OBE (1 July 1912 – 19 January 1986) was a Cook Islands chief, educator and politician. He served as member of the Legislative Assembly in two spells between 1958 and 1983.

Biography

Tangatapoto was born in July 1912 in Atiu,[1] the son of Akemarae and Tangatapoto.[2] Having won the Sir Maui Pomare medal for being an outstanding pupil twice during his education on Atiu, he became a teacher at Atiu Primary School in 1927 the age of 15.[3][4][1] In 1934 he joined the Tagua ship as a cabin boy under Andy Thomson and followed him to the Tiare Taporo.[4] He returned to teaching at the primary school in 1940 and became the first local headteacher in 1951.[3][4] He also served as a church deacon,[4] founded Atiu's first youth club and public library,[4] and also established the Cook Islands branch of the Boys' and Girls' Brigades,[3] the latter in 1972.[5] He was married to Tuerei and had ten children.[2][1]

Conferred with the title of ariki, he served as speaker of the Atiu House of Ariki.[3] In the 1958 elections, the first under universal suffrage, he was elected to the Cook Islands Legislative Assembly from the Atiu constituency. He was re-elected in 1961 and the following year was elected to the Executive Committee, the islands' first cabinet, by members of the legislature.[6]

Although he lost his seat in the 1965 elections, which he contested as a United Political Party candidate,[7] he was elected again in 1968 as a representative of the United Cook Islanders party, which he led from 1970 to 1971. He subsequently joined the new Democratic Party and was re-elected in 1972, 1974 and 1978. Following the 1978 elections, he became Deputy Speaker.[1] He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977,[8] and retired from politics prior to the March 1983 elections.[3] He was awarded an OBE in the 1983 New Year Honours.

He died in Mangaia in January 1986 at the age of 73.[3] After his death the government set up the Vainerere Tangatapoto Foundation Fund for Uniformed Organisations.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Who's who in Oceania, 1980–1981, p 190
  2. 1 2 Headstone of Tangatapoto Digitalia
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Vainrere Tangatapoto Pacific Islands Monthly, April 1986, p 50
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Vaine Rere: Atiu's natural leader Pacific Islands Monthly, December 1968, pp 75–79
  5. ↑ Newsletter 71 Cook Islands Christian Church, September 2018
  6. ↑ They'll work towards Self-government Pacific Islands Monthly, September 1962, p 21
  7. ↑ David J. Stone Self rule in the Cook Islands: The government and politics of a new micro-state
  8. ↑ Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). "Recipients of the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal 1977: nominal roll of New Zealand recipients including Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau". Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 433. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
  9. ↑ R. G. Crocombe (1990) Voluntary Service and Development in the Cook Islands, p 55
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