Pita Lus was born on 16 September 1935 in Lehinga (or Lahinga) village in the Maprik District of what is now the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

After seven years on Manus, Lus returned to Maprik in 1959, approached a missionary with the South Seas Evangelical Church for help to learn to read and write and attended a Bible college.

[1][2] Lus was a successful candidate in the first democratic election in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea in 1964 for the new House of Assembly under the Australian colonial government, winning the seat of Dreikikier.

[1][2][3] Together with Michael Somare, Albert Maori Kiki, Barry Holloway, Cecil Abel, Joseph Nombri and others, Lus was a founding member of the Pangu Party in 1967, opening a branch in Maprik.

[1][2][3][4] In later life, Lus campaigned for redress from the Japanese government for damage caused to Papua New Guinea during World War II.