Tiaki Omana

Tiaki Omana (18 December 1891 – 24 June 1970), 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 Apirana Ngata who had held it since 1905. He was of aristocratic Ngāti Rongomaiwahine descent and was also a grandson of John Davies Ormond, first Superintendent of Hawke's Bay.

Early life

A keen rugby player, Tiaki Omana played Ranfurly Shield matches for his province, Hawke's Bay, and once for the All Blacks in 1923 against a team from New South Wales. Even after joining the New Zealand Maori (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 was a sheepfarmer on the isolated Mahia 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 1928, 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.

Ratana name

Tiaki Omana was also referred to as Hamuera after Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana's son Hamuera Ratana, symbol of the end of tohunga witchcraft.