Tala Cleverley

Tala Cleverley was the first Pasifika Councillor for Wellington City Council, and the first Pasifika person elected to local government anywhere in Aotearoa New Zealand. She was first sworn in as a Councillor in 1979 and stood through to 1995, during which time her work focused on helping Pacific people living in Wellington to have a voice in the community.

Cleverley was born in Samoa in 1930 where she was educated at a school run by nuns. After she left school she worked as a shorthand typist and book-keeper at the only practicing law firm in Samoa at that time. She came to Aotearoa New Zealand in 1950, travelling on the MV Matua (affectionately known as the ‘banana boat’) which stopped at Tonga and Fiji before arriving in Lyttleton. She eventually came to Wellington where she held several jobs, including book-keeping and typing for Social Security Services and Hannah’s shoe shop.

Cleverley decided to improve her English by taking night classes at Wellington High School, and in 1970 she started her own business and opened a shop selling Samoan crafts and gifts.

Cleverley has been a pioneering member of many groups in Wellington including the Norman Kirk Trust, PACIFICA (an organisation run by Pacific women for Pacific women), the Pacific Advisory Group, and in 1985 she helped to organise Wellington’s first Polynesian Youth Festival. Though she left council in 1995, Tala Cleverley has continued to be involved in the life of WCC, attending PAG meetings as recently as 2014.