Land rights was not the only reason for maori resistance, with pacifism and religion being grounds for not volunteering to fight for a community in the uruwera however this was misconstrued by the government and media and led to an unnecessarily forceful intervention.
Ruatapu-nui Kenana was a Maori Prophet and leader in the Tuhoe region. He was very influential and led a large community, particularly during the first few years of WWI. He saw visions and made prophecies, which contributed to his large following from Maori in the Tuhoe region.
His 1906 prophecy that the British King would come to Gisborne and give Kenana the money to buy back ‘all alienated land’ shows how important land was to the people as it gained him many new followers. This was 8 years before WWI, and it indicates the depth the issue of land rights and disputes were to Maori at the time because of both the prophecy and the following he gained because of it.
Rua Kenana opposed recruitment of the people of Tuhoe as he drew his teachings and messages from the Bible and of Te Kooti, and placed an emphasis of peace in his community. Going to war was against his religion and fundamental beliefs, and he believed there had been enough war amongst the Maori people (in part referring to the land wars 50 years previously.)
Rua had other visions and prophecies involving the German Kaiser, and he told people that he had thrones set aside for ‘all the kings of the world’, one of these was for the Kaiser. During WWI this was seen as seditious, and endangered Rua's reputation as a pacifist. Society was very influenced by war, and people were led to believe that spies could be anywhere; despite the war being on the other side of the world. His comments were blown hugely out of proportion and there were rumours both in and out of the media that he was a German sympathiser. This gave the government grounds to intervene, and they arrested him on a number of charges. Four of these, including sedition, were thrown out of court. However he was found guilty of sly-grogging, providing alcohol to the community without a license, and was sentenced to a number of years in jail.
A newspaper article written about his arrest warrant can be read here.
An article written on his arrest can be read here.
Both provide an interesting perspective on the event, particularly as both were probably written by Pakeha men.
Below is a song written about him and his following.
A key lyric:
'He told his people not to go to war, Let the white man fight the man's war.'
His 1906 prophecy that the British King would come to Gisborne and give Kenana the money to buy back ‘all alienated land’ shows how important land was to the people as it gained him many new followers. This was 8 years before WWI, and it indicates the depth the issue of land rights and disputes were to Maori at the time because of both the prophecy and the following he gained because of it.
Rua Kenana opposed recruitment of the people of Tuhoe as he drew his teachings and messages from the Bible and of Te Kooti, and placed an emphasis of peace in his community. Going to war was against his religion and fundamental beliefs, and he believed there had been enough war amongst the Maori people (in part referring to the land wars 50 years previously.)
Rua had other visions and prophecies involving the German Kaiser, and he told people that he had thrones set aside for ‘all the kings of the world’, one of these was for the Kaiser. During WWI this was seen as seditious, and endangered Rua's reputation as a pacifist. Society was very influenced by war, and people were led to believe that spies could be anywhere; despite the war being on the other side of the world. His comments were blown hugely out of proportion and there were rumours both in and out of the media that he was a German sympathiser. This gave the government grounds to intervene, and they arrested him on a number of charges. Four of these, including sedition, were thrown out of court. However he was found guilty of sly-grogging, providing alcohol to the community without a license, and was sentenced to a number of years in jail.
A newspaper article written about his arrest warrant can be read here.
An article written on his arrest can be read here.
Both provide an interesting perspective on the event, particularly as both were probably written by Pakeha men.
Below is a song written about him and his following.
A key lyric:
'He told his people not to go to war, Let the white man fight the man's war.'