The arrest of Rua Kēnana

Whakatauki

Na Toi raua ko Pōtiki te whenua  Na Tūhoe te mana me te rangātiratanga                                         

The land comes from Toi and Pōtiki   The power and prestige comes from Tūhoe

Rua Kēnana - The Ngāi Tūhoe prophet and successor to Te Kooti

Rua Kēnana, of Ngāi Tūhoe, was born in 1868 or 1869. When Te Kooti died in 1893 he claimed to be the successor named Hepetipa (Hephzibah) whom Te Kooti had prophesied would complete his work by regaining the land.

His claims divided the Ringatū Church founded by Te Kooti. Many Tūhoe saw Rua as a symbol of a new era in which their lost lands would be returned and kept in their name. In 1907 he built a new religious community at the foot of Maungapōhatu, the mountain sacred to Tūhoe.

 Source: 'Rua Kēnana', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/rua-kenana, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 8-Nov-2017

Rua Kēnana arrested - 2 April 1916

By 1907 prophet and community leader Rua Kēnana had attracted a following of 600 people. Many Pākehā saw the avowedly autonomous kāinga as subversive. 

On Sunday 2 April 1916, 57 police raided the Ngāi Tūhoe settlement of Maungapōhatu in the Urewera Ranges

Source: 'Arrest of Rua Kēnana', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/arrest-of-rua-kenana, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 9-Dec-2016

Reasons for the arrest of Rua Kēnana

Māori politicians like Māui Pōmare and Āpirana Ngata believed that traditional tohunga (spiritual leaders) such as Rua inhibited Māori progress. 

In 1915 Rua was charged with illicitly selling alcohol. 

Concerned about his opposition to Tūhoe men enlisting for military service, the government seized this opportunity to punish him.

After Rua failed to appear before a magistrate when summonsed in January 1916, Police Commissioner John Cullen instigated an armed police expedition to Maungapōhatu.

Source: Arrest of Rua Kēnana', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/arrest-of-rua-kenana, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 9-Dec-2016

John Cullen who led the arrest of Rua Kēnana

In early 1916 the government decided to suppress the activities of the prophet Rua Kenana, who was challenging the authority of the state and encouraging Maori to refuse to participate in the war effort. Cullen headed an expedition of several dozen policemen to Maungapohatu, Rua's capital deep in rugged bush territory in the Urewera. 

Source: Richard S. Hill. 'Cullen, John', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3c42/cullen-john (accessed 2 February 2020)

Police on their way to arrest Rua

The scene of the arrest

Rua was arrested at Maungapohatu by an armed force of 57 constables sent secretly from Auckland and two smaller contingents from Gisborne and Whakatane. He was seized on the marae, where he was standing unarmed, accompanied by Whatu and Toko, waiting to greet the police.

Source: Judith Binney. 'Rua Kenana Hepetipa', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3r32/rua-kenana-hepetipa (accessed 1 February 2020)

Who fired the first shot?

At the same moment, a shot was fired. In the ensuing mêlée two Maori were killed, one of whom was Toko. The senior police officers later orchestrated the police evidence, stating that the first shot was fired by a Maori and was part of a planned ambush; the Maori stated it was a police shot. 

Source: Judith Binney. 'Rua Kenana Hepetipa', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3r32/rua-kenana-hepetipa (accessed 1 February 2020)

The historian Judith Binney stated that the police later manipulated the evidence to make it appear that Māori, planning an ambush, had fired first. Binney concluded that the ‘weight of evidence’ supported Rua and his followers’ denial of this version of events; in fact, one of the Māori who died might have been shot in cold blood. The way in which the arrest warrant was executed was later found to be highly questionable, if not illegal.

Source: Rua Kēnana', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/rua-kenana, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 8-Nov-2017.

The trial of Rua Kēnana

The Auckland Supreme Court heard Rua’s case in October 1916. He was accused of sedition for speaking against conscription and urging his followers to resist the police. The jury couldn’t reach a verdict on the charge of resisting the police; some observers claimed that the police action had been both illegal and excessive. The jury rejected the sedition charge and noted that he was only ‘morally’ guilty of resisting his initial arrest in 1915. 

The judge nevertheless sentenced Rua to one year’s imprisonment with hard labour and another 18 months of ‘reformative detention’, a sentence so harsh that eight members of the jury protested publicly and petitioned Parliament about it. Rua remained in prison until April 1918. 

Source: 'Rua Kēnana, resisting police', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/rua-kenana-resisting-police, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 10-Jul-2018

Rua Kēnana Pardon Bill - more than 100 years later, the crown acknowledges the wrong done