Rua Kēnana (front, third from left) stands handcuffed after his arrest in April 1916. Rua was a Ngāi Tūhoe prophet who established a community at Maungapōhatu in Te Urewera. He was arrested on his marae after failing to appear in court on a charge of selling alcohol without a licence. At the moment of his arrest a shot was fired (from which side is uncertain) and in the resulting firefight two Tūhoe were killed, including Toko, the son of Rua. Rua was subsequently found guilty only of ‘morally’ resisting arrest, but spent two years in prison. Those in this image are (handcuffed in the foreground, left to right) Maka Kanuehi, Pukepuke Kanara, Rua Kēnana, Whatu Rua, Awa Horomona and Tioke Hakaipare. The police, at back, are Bill Neil, Andy McHugh and Michael Fahey.
Using this item
Alexander Turnbull Library, C. C. Webb Collection
Reference:
1/2-028072-F
Photograph by Arthur Ninnis Breckon
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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