page_title: Maungapohatu
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Maungapohatu / Settlement history / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Circular courthouse made by Rua Kenana Hepetipa's disciples in Maungapohatu. Picture taken circa 1908
context_page_description: Maungapohatu is a settlement in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. Located in a remote area of the Urewera bush country about 20 kilometres north of Lake Waikaremoana, it was founded by Rua Tapunui Kenana in 1907 and was substantially rebuilt twice during the next two decades. At its peak more than 500 people lived there but today it is once more a very sparsely populated place.
  It lies at the foot of the 1366 metre mountain of the same name, which is sacred to the Tūhoe iwi.
context_section_description: Rua arrived at this isolated outpost as the winter of 1907 set in. During the first year the potato crop failed and there were no pigs to be had. At least fifty people died that winter, most of them children, from the inadequacy of the houses, an outbreak of typhoid which came from the valley camps, and a measles epidemic which devastated the community. Sometimes there was nothing to eat but huhu, and the coarse toi leaves, normally used only for clothing. Nonetheless, from this inauspicious beginning the community struggled on to a first summer of plenty.  Two groups had come together to build te pa tapu o te atua, the sacred pā of the Lord; about half the entire Tuhoe tribe; and the Whakatohea, who through confiscation were almost landless. To signify the union between these two Mataatua tribes, Rua constructed the "House of the Lord", Hiruharama Hou, built with two gables. One side was for the Tuhoe and the other for the Whakatohea. 
  Built between 1907–1908, Maungapohatu "was an impressive settlement with its own courthouse, bank, and council room. The streets were lit with oil lamps and it had its own water system, with separated pools for washing and cooking. The families set up their own rules of conduct, which were enforced through a council of elders and their prophet leader. In these first years, about 500 or 600 people lived at Maungapohatu."  Rua attempted to create a new system of land ownership and land usage with a strong communal basis but which also emphasised the concept of family ownership of property. 
  The concepts of tapu and noa were central to the design, with different sections to reflect these two ideas. The sacred area, which included the civic amenities and sleeping houses was called the wahi tapu and fenced off from the surrounding noa area where buildings for the preparation of food and other mundane activities were built. The Bible was also a significant influence. The Hiruharama Hou was inspired by the instructions David had been given for Solomon's House as described in the Books of Chronicles and Kings.
  A two-storied structure called the Hīona (Zion) was constructed that became the parliament from where community affairs were administered. This circular meeting house was decorated with a design of blue clubs (Rua's personal symbol) and yellow diamonds, and stood within the inner sanctum of the pa. This was Rua's “Council Chamber and Court House” – also known as “Rua's Temple”. Rua thought it was modelled on the Jerusalem Temple (even though his chamber was not to be a place of worship), but the actual model was the present day Dome of the Rock on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a Muslim holy site. The internal design with its two doors, winding staircase and "windows of narrow lights" was more solidly based on the biblical record. The unique cylindrical shape was a radical departure from traditional North Island Maori architecture.
  However, the authorities saw Rua Kenana as a disruptive influence and targeted him with the Tohunga Suppression Act of 1907, which banned traditional Māori healers from using herbs and other healing methods which were part of their traditional medicine. By 1908 Rua's struggle for power had brought the Tuhoe to the brink of civil war and the Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward intervened in an attempt to curb the prophet's influence.
caption: The Hiona
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