Tēvita ʻUnga/en
Mei he Wikipedia
Tēvita ʻUnga was the oldest son of Tāufaʻāhau, king Siaosi Tupou, I but not the crownprince as he was considered illegitimate. When his father by 1834 had usurped enough power to take any wife he wanted, he took Sālote Lupepauʻu, a Tuʻi Tonga Fefine, the highest ranking woman around. And he declared all previous wives divorced and their offspring illegitimate. However when the last crownprince Vuna Takitakimālohi had died, his father had not much choice and made Tēvita and his son, Uelingatoni Ngū the appointed successors in the constitution.
When Tupou I had conquered Tongatapu and moved his residence to there, Tēvita remained behind in Vavaʻu as a governor. Only when his father was unpleasantly surprised that establishing a constitution, in 1875, was not enough to get the esteem of the foreign powers, but that he also had to appoint ministers, Tēvita became the first prime minister, but soon, 1879, left his job in a mess behind and went to New Zealand for medical treatmnet. There he died.
Meanwhile his son, Uelingatoni Ngū (Wellington Gu) had taken over as acting governor of Vavaʻu. In the Poʻopoʻoi newspaper of September 1876 it is described he had to pay a fine of 6 dollars and one shilling because his dog bit a man called Tevi.
Julius Brenchley visited Vavaʻu for 5 days in July 1865 and met the governor, David Uga (as his name was written at that time). He described him as: tall, imposing-looking in spite of the loss of an eye … minus two fingers, cut off as a tribute to some deceased relatives.
- J.L. Brenchley: Jottings during the cruise of H.M.S. Curacoa among the South sea islands in 1865: London 1873
- Koe Boobooi, editor Shirley W. Baker: vol II (March 1875 – November 1877)
