Rua Kenana Hepetipa

Who was Rua Kenana Hepetipa?

Rua Tapunui Kenana was a Māori prophet, faith healer and land rights activist. He called himself Te Mihaia Hou, the New Messiah, and his messianic dreams for his people incorporated a range of pragmatic and comprehensible schemes aimed at improving the welfare of his followers. By 1908 he had built a new community at Maungapohatu in the heart of the isolated Urewera bush country. In 1916 police mounted an armed expedition, arriving at Maungapohatu on 2 April to arrest Rua for sedition. He was found not guilty on this charge but imprisoned for resisting arrest. Rua was released in April 1918 and returned to Maungapohatu, the community was however in decline and by the early 1930s, most people had left to find work elsewhere. Rua moved on to Matahi in the eastern Bay of Plenty and lived there until his death in 1937.