Rex Austin

Austin was born in Riverton, Southland, in 1931.^[1] Of Māori descent, he affiliated to Ngāi Tahu, Waitaha and Kāti Māmoe.^[2] He received his education at Southland Technical College and Lincoln College;^[3] at the latter institution, he obtained a diploma in agriculture.^[4] In 1958, he married Miriam Helen Brumpton, with whom he had four sons.^[1]

Austin farmed at Colac Bay in Southland and lived in Riverton. From 1971, he was a member of the Southland Hospital Board.^[1]

In the 1975 election he was elected to Parliament as the National Party MP for Awarua, which he represented until 1987.^[5]

Austin and Ben Couch were the second and third Māori (after Sir James Carroll) to win a general electorate, as opposed to one of the Māori electorates.

Austin died in Invercargill on 23 June 2022, at the age of 91.^[6]

In 1977, Austin was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.^[7] In the 1994 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the community.^[8]