15 Facts About Ebia Olewale

Sir Ebia Olewale was a politician in Papua New Guinea.

Ebia Olewale was elected as a member of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea in 1968 and went on to hold several ministerial positions during the period of self-governance and after PNG's independence in 1975, including that of deputy prime minister.

Ebia Olewale was knighted in 1983 and served as chancellor of the University of Goroka from 2000 to 2006.

Niwia Ebia Olewale was born on 21 February 1940 in Ture Ture, a village not far from the administrative centre of Daru in what is the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.

Ebia Olewale's mother was one of the few people in the area at the time to have waged employment.

Ebia Olewale studied at a London Missionary Society school from 1949 to 1952, and then moved to a school in Daru, from 1952 to 1957.

Ebia Olewale then transferred to Sogeri National High School near Port Moresby, the country's only national-level high school at the time.

Ebia Olewale was at Sogeri at the same time as many of PNG's future leaders during the independence period.

Ebia Olewale resigned at the end of 1967 to seek election.

Ebia Olewale served under prime minister Michael Somare as education minister in 1972 and 1973.

Together with the secretary for foreign affairs, Anthony Siaguru, Ebia Olewale negotiated the Torres Strait Treaty with Australia and a border agreement with Indonesia.

Ebia Olewale was not re-elected in 1982 and never returned to the parliament.

Ebia Olewale lacked the academic qualifications to take a senior job in the civil service and his political opponents were in office.

Ebia Olewale was made a Knight Bachelor in the 1983 New Year Honours.

Ebia Olewale's funeral took place in Port Moresby and was attended by over one thousand mourners, including the Governor-General, Sir Paulias Matane, the prime minister, Sir Michael Somare and Lady Veronica Somare, the deputy Prime Minister Puka Temu and the leader of the opposition, Sir Mekere Morauta.