Michael Ala

Michael Ala MBE (30 March 1923 – 4 January 1985) was a Vanuatuan medical practitioner, clergyman and politician. He served as a member of the Advisory Council from 1964 to 1975.

Michael Ala
Member of the Advisory Council
In office
1969–1975
ConstituencyAoba, Banks and Torres Islands
In office
1964–1969
ConstituencyNorthern
Personal details
Born30 March 1923
Ambae, New Hebrides
Died4 January 1985(1985-01-04) (aged 61)
Ambae, Vanuatu

Biography

Ala was born in Saranambuga in Ambae in 1923.[1] He was educated at the Melanesian Mission School at Pawa in the Solomon Islands and Queen Victoria School in Fiji.[1] He qualified as a medical practitioner at the Central Medical School in Suva and returned to the New Hebrides to work in Port Vila as part of the British National Medical Service.[2][1] He married May Banivagahao in 1950; the couple had six children.[1] After working at the Paton Memorial Hospital as an assistant medical practitioner, in 1954 he was posted to Ambae to set up a local clinic.[3] He later became an Anglican priest.[4]

In 1962 he became the first chairman of Ambae local council,[1] a position he held for 13 years.[5] In 1964 he was elected to the Advisory Council by Northern District Council.[6] He was re-elected in direct elections in 1969, representing the constituency of Ambae, Banks and Torres Islands.[7] He was awarded an MBE in the 1971 Birthday Honours.[8] He contested the Ambae–Maevo constituency in the 1975 elections as an independent, but failed to be elected.[9] He later joined the Vanua'aku Pati.[4]

In 1979 he served as a member of the commission of enquiry into violence on Tanna.[10] He died on Ambae in January 1985 at the age of 62.[5]

gollark: Hmm, where can I get data...
gollark: Fine, I'll generate some data and test it empirically.
gollark: It can do gigabytes a second. Maybe your options are just bad.
gollark: I assume LyricLy was implementing some Macrons.
gollark: Did the server crash?

References
  1. Pacific Islands Year Book and Who's who, Issue 9, p3
  2. Gideon A. P. Zoleveke (1980) Zoleveke: A Man from Choiseul : an Autobiography, p32
  3. Assistant Medical Practitioner Michael Ala Pacific Islands Monthly, June 1954, p65
  4. Graham Hassall (1992) Church and state in Vanuatu 1945–1980: A 'Pacific' contest for power South-Pacific Journal of Mission Studies, volume 2, number 2
  5. Michael Ala Pacific Islands Monthly, March 1985, p65
  6. First Elections For New Hebrides Advisory Council Pacific Islands Monthly, August 1964, p117
  7. Wider net for New Hebrides Advisory Council Pacific Islands Monthly, October 1969, pp30–31
  8. People Pacific Islands Monthly, July 1971, p73
  9. Kalkot Matas Kele-Kele (1977) New Hebrides, the Road to Independence8, p78
  10. Tense times on Tanna Pacific Islands Monthly, June 1979, p21
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.