Background
Ata was the son of Tevita Manú"opangai Ata (1864–1898) and Pauline Manutu"ufanga Niumeitolu and was a cousin of Her Majesty Queen Sālote Tupou III.
Ata was the son of Tevita Manú"opangai Ata (1864–1898) and Pauline Manutu"ufanga Niumeitolu and was a cousin of Her Majesty Queen Sālote Tupou III.
He attended Newington College, Sydney (1896–1902), with six other Tongan nobles.
Honorary On returning to Tonga he worked in government and was appointed to the Ata title on 12 November 1904. He held various ministerial portfolios in cabinet and was Minister for Lands from 1925 until 1941. In 1937 he revisited Australia to study banana growing in sub-tropical areas.
Ata thus became the second of four Old Newingtonian Tongan Prime ministers in a row as he was succeeded by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Tāufaʻāhau Tungi Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and then by His Royal Highness Prince Fatafehi Tu"ipelehake Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Ata was made an honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the New Years List of 1947.