Rua photos for all, says family

By LAUREN MENTJOX

The granddaughter of the lawyer who defended Maori leader Rua Kenana in 1916 says the photo album of his trial should be available to everyone.

Sandy Lundon said her grandfather, John Raphael (Jerry) Lundon, would have wanted the album, with its photos of the Tuhoe leader's Auckland trial, to be in a public collection.

"My grandfather was always fighting for the the Maori because no one else did. He was a supporter of the underdog who wanted everything to be free and open and not hidden away."

The Lundon family had given all of her grandfather's papers and photos to the public more than 20 years ago.

"We decided to donate them to the Turnbull Library so that everyone had access rather than have people fighting over them.

"Now I've been told that the Maori have become aware that these things have been discovered and are starting to claim they have the right to all of the photographs."

Auckland University professor Judith Binney, author of Mihaia: The prophet Rua Kenana and his community at Maungapohatu, said the only two other known albums of Rua's trial were at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington.

It was believed the albums were made to document the trial and given to witnesses as souvenirs, she said.

The Auckland man who had hoped to sell the album at auction next month has removed it from public sale and it will be sold by tender.

Members of the Tuhoe tribe were hoping to recover it free of cost and Tuhoe Trust Board representative Rangi McLean was meeting today with Dunbar Sloane.

Rua Kenana

* Rua Kenana was a religious leader who preached that Maori would be saved from Pakeha settlers, just as the Israelites were delivered from Egypt in the Bible.

* Rua was arrested, tried and eventually sentenced to jail in 1916, after urging Maori not to take part in World War I.

* A album of photos from the trial, apparently taken by Rua's lawyer Jerry Lundon, has now been discovered.

* Its resale has caused controversy, with claims by the Tuhoe tribe that the pictures belong to them.