14 Facts About Sonja Davies

On 6 February 1987, Davies was the third appointee to the Order of New Zealand.

Sonja Davies Vile was born in the Upper Hutt suburb of Wallaceville in 1923.

Sonja Davies's mother was Gwladys Ilma Vile, a nurse, and a granddaughter of Job Vile.

Sonja Davies Vile learned of her father's identity, Gerald Dempsey, when she was 20, but never made any contact.

Sonja Davies had four different foster homes before her grandparents took her in, and they lived in Oamaru and Woodville.

Sonja Davies married Lindsay Nathan in 1941, and began training as a nurse.

Sonja Davies became pregnant after an affair with an American marine and her daughter Penny was born in 1944.

Sonja Davies was elected to the Nelson Hospital Board in 1956, and to the Nelson City Council in 1961.

Sonja Davies later returned to Nelson to seek the Labour candidacy for the Nelson seat in a 1976 by-election, but was unsuccessful, finishing the second preference to grocer and Nelson City Councillor Mel Courtney.

Sonja Davies helped to found the Working Women's Council, and in 1974 she became the first female executive of the Federation of Labour.

Sonja Davies believed that the national Association would be influential in lobbying the government would help centres to lobby the government over impending childcare regulations.

Sonja Davies became the Labour MP for Pencarrow in 1987 and served two terms.

Sonja Davies retired in 1993 and Trevor Mallard replaced her.

In 1990, Sonja Davies received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, and in 1993 she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.