September 16, 2019
Rua Kenana pardon unlocks history lessons
A Tuhoe leader says a pardon for Rua Kenana will allow the prophet's vision to be more widely shared and understood.
Te Pire kia Unuhia te Hara kai Runga i a Rua Kenana: Rua Kenana Pardon Bill was read in Parliament for the first time last Thusday.
The pardon would include apologies and acknowledgements to Rua Kenana descendants, a declaration restoring the character, mana and reputation of Rua Kenana and his descendants and a summary of the 1916 invasion of Maungapōhatu by armed police that left his son Toko Rua and another man, Maipi Te Whiu, dead.
Taiarahia Black from Ngā Toenga o Ngā Tamariki a Iharaira me ngā Uri o Maungapōhatu Charitable Trust says the bill was a millenium moment, in the spirit of the Māori millenium Rua talked about.
He says the prophet emerged in 1906 when raupatu and disease had decimated the Tūhoe people.
The story and his teachings have been preserved in oral and written form by his followers and descendants.
"So he will be remembered for saying to the people, hold on to the scripture. And his most famous saying was taken from the teachings of Solomon: Whakarongo e ngā tamariki, kaua e whakarērea tō mātauranga. Listen to me my children. Do not forsake your education. What he meant of course was our oral history education," Professor Black says.
That oral history can now be incorporated into the history that will be taught in schools.
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