Mihaia: the prophet Rua Kenana and his community at Maungapohatu

Rua Kenana was an extraordinary prophetic leader from the Urewera. Resisting threats toexpel the Tühoe people from their ancestral lands, he established a remarkable communityat Maungapohatu, identifying himself as the ‘Míhaia’ or ‘Messiah’ for Túhoe. Judith Binney, Gillian Chaplin and Craig Wallace researched the history of the communityin the 1970s, working frst with a collection of photographs that they took to the Urewera.Sharing these photographs with descendants of Rua and his followers, they found that‘strangers opened their hearts to us, and shared their stories’.This biographical account focuses on a dramatic moment in Urewera history, one thatincorporated a shocking episode in early twentieth-century New Zealand. The richphotographic record documents not only the police assault on the Maungapohatucommunity but also the lives of the people and Rua’s utopian vision. The prophet livedinto the 1930s, a leader still working to support and sustain his followers.Described on publication as ‘an unparalleled record of a community through time’, thisremarkable history has been in demand since frst publication by Oxford University Pressin 1979.