Tiaki Omana
Tiaki Omana, also known by the English name Jack Ormond, was a New Zealand rugby union player and politician. He won the Rātana Movement's fourth Maori electorate of Eastern Maori in 1943 from Āpirana Ngata who had held it since 1905.
Biography
Early life
He was born John Ormond on 18 December 1891 at Mahia, but became commonly known as Tiaki Omana. He was the fourth child of George Canning Ormond, a sheepfarmer, and his wife Maraea Kiwi Wharekete who was of Ngāti Kahungunu. He was of aristocratic Ngāti Rongomaiwahine descent and was also a grandson of John Davies Ormond, first Superintendent of Hawke's Bay.A keen rugby player, even after joining the New Zealand (Māori) Pioneer Battalion and fighting in France during World War I, he was still able to play on the wing for the Pioneer Battalion team. Omana played Ranfurly Shield matches for his province, Hawke's Bay, and once for the All Blacks in 1923 against a touring team from New South Wales.
Omana was a sheepfarmer on the isolated Māhia Peninsula before becoming a Member of Parliament.
Member of Parliament
A koata of the 'second cut', Omana first contested the Tairawhiti electorate of Eastern Maori in, finally winning the electorate in 1943. As a Rātana/Labour member, he raised the issue of land claims, housing and health for Māori, and discrimination in social security. Omana held the electorate until his retirement in 1963, when he returned to farming and to his original Church of England faith.In 1953, Omana was awarded the Queen [Elizabeth II Coronation Medal].
Former press gallery reporter Leslie Hobbs wrote that "Jack Omana, was one of the most popular and respected members of the House, but he never worked up any enthusiasm for party politics, particularly the fighting side of it. He liked everyone too much and everyone liked him." He was noted as frequently bringing boxes of kumara grown his farm in Mahia back to Wellington as presents for his friend, but political adversary, Keith Holyoake.