Arno Max Gurau (died 1 June 1961) was a Western Samoan politician and the only

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inhabitant of the country. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly between 1951 and 1957, and again in 1961.

Biography

Gurau was born and grew up in

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.Death of Samoan Old Hand
''

Pacific Islands Monthly ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', commonly referred to as "PIM", was a magazine founded in 1930 in Sydney by New Zealand born journalist R.W. Robson. Background ''Pacific Islands Monthly'' was started in Sydney in 1930. The first issue ran in August ...

'', July 1961, p73 He began working in the timber industry, including a stint in Russia. He later joined the Germany Army, and following two years of training, moved to

German South West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

in 1911 to work as a railway construction clerk. In 1913 he spent time in New Zealand and

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, before moving to

German Samoa German Samoa officially Malo Kaisalika / Kingdom of Samoa (; Samoan: ''Malo Kaisalika'') was a German protectorate from 1900 to 1920, consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the Independent State ...

shortly before the outbreak of

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. After settling in Samoa he worked as a clerk for O.F. Nelson & Co, before becoming a cocoa planter in

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. He later worked for the government, monitoring banana shipments, before becoming an accountant and office manager at P.C. Fabricus. When the firm was sold, he set up as a trader. He was married to Elizabeth and had six children and 23 grandchildren. In 1951 he was described by the ''

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'' as the only Jew in Western Samoa. In 1948 Gurau ran in the

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for the new Legislative Assembly as a representative of the Labour Party, finishing as the highest-placed candidate not to be elected. However, he was successful in the 1951 elections, and was re-elected in

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

. He lost his seat in the 1957 elections. In 1960 Gurau was elected to the Constitutional Assembly that was to draw up the independence constitution for Western Samoa.Many Europeans Decline Citizenship At This Stage
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', August 1960, p22 In the Legislative Assembly elections in February the following year, he was returned to the legislature. However, he died at his home in

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. The Apia Urban A ...

on 1 June 1961 at the age of 75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurau, Arno Politicians from Berlin 19th-century German Jews Colonial people of German South West Africa Samoan Jews Samoan civil servants Samoan farmers 20th-century Samoan businesspeople Members of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa 1961 deaths Samoan people of German descent German people in German Samoa