Sir Silas Atopare (1951 – 16 September 2021) was a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

n politician who served as the seventh

governor-general of Papua New Guinea The governor-general of Papua New Guinea () is the representative of the Papua New Guinean monarch, currently King Charles III, in Papua New Guinea. The governor-general is appointed by the monarch after their nomination by the National Parliam ...

from November 1997 until November 2003.

Early life and education

Atopare was born in Kabiufa, near

Goroka Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people (2000), above sea level. It has an airport (in the centre of town) and is on the " Highlands Highway", about from Lae in Mor ...

in what is now the

Eastern Highlands Province Eastern Highlands is a highlands province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Goroka. The province covers an area of 11,157 km2, and has a population of 579,825 (2011 census). The province shares a common administrative boundary w ...

of Papua New Guinea. He attended Kabiufa Primary School, and then went to Kambubu Adventist High School in

East New Britain Province East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely ...

. In 1967, he joined the Department of Agriculture and Livestock and in 1974 he became a coffee plantation manager. A keen

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

player, he formed the Asaro Hawks, which was the first team of Papua New Guineans to compete in the largely expatriate Goroka Rugby League.

Political career

In 1977, at the age of 25, he was elected to the

National Parliament of Papua New Guinea The National Parliament of Papua New Guinea is the Unicameralism, unicameral national legislature in Papua New Guinea. It was created in 1964 as the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea but gained its current name after the nation was grante ...

, representing Goroka but failed to be re-elected in 1982. He subsequently held many roles, including being a board member of

Air Niugini Air Niugini Limited is the flag carrier of Papua New Guinea, based in Air Niugini House on the site of Port Moresby International Airport, Port Moresby. It operates a domestic network from Port Moresby to 12 major airports while its subsidiary ...

. In January 1989 he was appointed inaugural Chairman of the Eastern Highlands Capital Authority, set up by the Provincial Government to manage the provision of urban services for the town of Goroka (until 1992), in the course of which Goroka town was restored to be the best serviced urban centre in PNG. He was also appointed President of the Goroka Show Society. In 1991, he was made secretary-general of the PNG Smallholder Coffee Growers Association and, in 1997, was appointed as governor-general. In 1998, he was knighted as a

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

. He had to bring order when violence and controversy marred the electoral process in PNG's oil and gas rich Southern Highlands Province. In 2008, Atopare was appointed Grand Chief in the

Order of Logohu The Order of Logohu is the principal order of the Papua New Guinea honours system, Order of Papua New Guinea. ''Logohu'' is a Motu language, Motuan word for the bird-of-paradise, the official national symbol of Papua New Guinea since its independen ...

. Atopare died in Goroka on 16 September 2021, during the 46th Independence Day celebrations. A state funeral was held in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

Personal life

Atopare was a practicing

polygamist Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more tha ...

who had two wives Agatha and Ruth. The children that he had with his wives were named Mole, Stony, Eddie, Helen, Serah, Elizabeth and Kalo. Atopare was a member of the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atopare, Silas 1951 births 2021 deaths Governors-general of Papua New Guinea Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Papua New Guinean knights Papua New Guinean Seventh-day Adventists People from the Eastern Highlands Province Grand Companions of the Order of Logohu