Olive Nelson

Olive Virginia Malienafau Nelson (died 1970) was the first Pacific Island graduate of the University of Auckland.[1]

Nelson was born in Samoa, the daughter of Olaf Nelson, a political leader in Western Samoa, and Rosabel Moors. She had two sisters and one brother, although her brother died of influenza in the 1918 epidemic.[2][3] In 1919 the three sisters were sent to New Zealand to study at an exclusive school in Remuera.[4]

In 1931 Nelson received the Butterworth Prize for the highest law exam results in the university. In 1933 she travelled to Samoa with her sisters and father, and then returned to Auckland to continue her studies.[5] Nelson completed her law degree in 1936 and was admitted to the bar the same year.[6] Following her graduation she returned to Samoa and practiced law there.[7]

Nelson married Gustav Frederick Dertag Betham (known as Fred Betham), a Samoan politician, and died in 1970.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ "125th Pacific Ball – The University of Auckland". www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Tautai: Sāmoa, World History, and the Life of Ta'isi O. F. Nelson — Coconet". Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "OLAF FREDERICK NELSON | NZETC". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  4. ↑ Koehler Sutter, Frederic (1989). The Samoans: A Global Family. University of Hawaii Press. p. 161.
  5. ↑ "Olaf Nelson and the place of afakasi in Samoa | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". nzhistory.govt.nz. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  6. ↑ "NZ University Graduates 1870–1961". shadowsoftime.co.nz. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  7. ↑ "Early traces of Pacific students at The University of Auckland" (PDF). September 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  8. ↑ South Pacific Bulletin, Volume 21. South Pacific Commission. 1971. p. 19.
  9. ↑ Hensley, Gerald (2013). Final Approaches: A Memoir. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press.
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