Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole Explained

Honorific Prefix:His Highness
Tupua Tamasese Mea’ole
Office1:O le Ao o le Malo of Samoa
Term Start1:1 January 1962
Term End1:5 April 1963
Alongside1:Malietoa Tanumafili II
Primeminister1:Fiame Mata'afa Faumuina Mulinu'u II
Predecessor1:Jack Wright
Successor1:Malietoa Tanumafili II
Office2:Tupua Tamasese
Term Label2:Tenure
Term2:1929 — 5 April 1963
Predecessor2:Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III
Successor2:Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV
Office3:Member of the Legislative Assembly
Term3:1948 – 1957
Office4:Member of the Legislative Council
Term4:1935 – 1948
Birth Date:3 June 1905
Birth Place:Vaimoso, German Samoa
Death Place:Apia, Samoa
Spouse:Irene Gustava Noue Nelson
Children:4, including Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi

Tupua Tamasese Mea'ole (3 June 1905 – 5 April 1963) was a Western Samoan paramount chief. He held the royal title of Tupua Tamasese from 1929 to 1963, and O le Ao o le Malo (Head of State) jointly with Malietoa Tanumafili II from 1962 until his death the following year.

Biography

He was born in Vaimoso in 1905, one of three sons of the paramount chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi II. He was educated at the Marist school in Apia.[1] In 1929, he was installed as Tupua Tamasese when his elder brother and Mau leader, Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III was assassinated by colonial police during a Mau parade in Apia.[1]

He married Noue in 1934, a daughter of Olaf Frederick Nelson.[1] The couple had four children; two daughters and two sons.[1] In 1936, he was appointed to the Legislative Council, and in 1938 he was appointed as one of the Fautua (advisor to the Administrator). In the same year he became president of the Mau.[1] As a Fautua, he continued to serve in the Legislative Council and its successor, the Legislative Assembly until 1957. He was a member of the Council of State and the Executive Council until 1959.[1]

Away from politics, Tamasese was involved in business, serving as chair of the board of the Western Samoa Trust Estates Corporation, a director of the Bank of Western Samoa and a member of the Copra Board.[1] In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.[2] In the 1957 New Year Honours he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

In preparations for independence, Tamasese chaired the constitutional conventions of 1954 and 1960.[1] When Western Samoa attained independence in 1962, the new constitution made Tupua Tamasese and Malietoa Tanumafili II (the two Fautua) joint heads of state.[1]

Upon Tamasese's death in April 1963, Malietoa continued to serve as sole head of state, whilst the title of Tupua Tamasese was passed to his eldest nephew, Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV, who would go on to become the second Prime Minister of Samoa.

Notes and References

  1. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-324701331/view?partId=nla.obj-324765036#page/n42/mode/1up Tamasese: Architect of West Samoan Independence
  2. News: Coronation Medal . Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette . 37 . 3 July 1953 . 1021–1035 . 20 March 2022.