Solomone Ula Ata

The Honourable Solomone Ula Ata OBE
Prime Minister of Tonga
In office 20 July 1941 – 12 December 1949
Monarch	Sālote Tupou III
Preceded by	Viliami Tungī Mailefihi
Succeeded by	Tāufaʻāhau Tungī
Personal details
Born	16 May 1888 Kolovai, Tonga
Died	27 March 1950 Nukuʻalofa, Tonga
Political party	Independent
Religion	Free Wesleyan Church

Hon. Solomone Piutuau Ulamoleka Ata (16 May 1883 – 27 March 1950)^[1] was the Prime Minister of Tonga from 1941 until 1949.

Biography

Ata was the son of Tevita Manú'opangai Ata (1864–1898) and Pauline Manutu'ufanga Niumeitolu and was a cousin of HM Queen Sālote Tupou III. He attended Newington College, Sydney (1896–1902), with six other Tongan nobles.^[2] On returning to Tonga he worked in government and was appointed to the Ata title on 12 November 1904. He held various ministerial portfolios in cabinet and was Minister for Lands from 1925 until 1941. In 1937 he revisited Australia^[3] to study banana growing in sub-tropical areas.^[4] In 1941 he was appointed as Prime Minister of Tonga when his friend from his schooldays at Newington, HRH Prince Viliami Tungī Mailefihi CBE, died. Ata thus became the second of four Old Newingtonian Tongan Prime ministers in a row as he was succeeded by HRH Crown Prince Tāufaʻāhau Tungi KBE and then by HRH Prince Fatafehi Tu'ipelehake CBE. Ata was made an honorary OBE in the New Years Honours List of 1947.^[5]

Honours

• Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

References

1. Hon. Solomone Piutau Ulamoleka Ata Retrieved 22 December 2013.
2. Newington College Register of Past Students 1863–1998 (Sydney, 1999) pp203
3. "TONGAN VISITORS.". The Sydney Morning Herald (National Library of Australia). 3 December 1937. p. 10. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
4. "Country News and Views.". The Farmer and Settler (NSW: National Library of Australia). 9 December 1937. p. 3. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
5. "NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST.". The Argus (Melbourne: National Library of Australia). 2 January 1947. p. 5. Retrieved 23 December 2013.