Born: 14 April 1942, Solomon Islands
Died: 14 June 1989
Country most active: Solomon Islands
Also known as: Lilly Ogatina
Politician and educator Lilly Ogatina Poznanski was the first woman elected to public office in the Solomon Islands, when she won the Central Solomons seat in the Legislative Council on 7 April 1965. She was also the country’s first woman to be awarded an MBE and the Solomon Islands Independence Medal. Earlier in her life, she’d been one of the first women sent abroad by the government for her education, and spent seven years studying in New Zealand. After an unsuccessful bid for the Honiara seat in the Legislative Council in 1967, she returned to teaching, but was elected to the Ngosi Ward of the Honiara Town Council in 1969. The next year, she was made Assistant Clerk to the Governing Council and, in 1978, became Chief Administrative Officer with the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Industry and Labour. This position reputedly made her the highest paid woman in the Solomon Islands.