Moana Raureti, a respected Wairoa kaumatua, was also a District Māori Welfare Officer in Waiariki (1956) and Hamilton. Moana was active in the 28 Māori Battalion Association.
Biographical sources
- Te Ao Hou 15 (1956): 16-17.
- Te Ao Hurihuri: Aspects of Māoritanga. Ed. Michael King. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992. 5.
Non-fiction
- "The Origins of the Ratana Movement." Tihe Mauriora: Aspects of Māoritanga. Ed. Michael King. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Methuen, 1978. 42-59. Rpt. in Te Ao Hurihuri: Aspects of Māoritanga. Ed. Michael King. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992.
- Raureti presents a biographical background to Tahupotiki Ratana’s growing spiritual awareness, healing powers and charismatic leadership that drew many to the Ratana Pa and to the formation the Ratana Church in 1925. Raureti specifically examines the faith healing aspect of Ratana’s ministry which began with the healing of Ratana’s own son after Ratana went through an extensive period of prayer and fasting. He also devotes a section to the formation of the Church and provides statistics to suggest that most of the adherents had come from the orthodox churches and more specifically from the Anglican Church. Ratana had a Methodist background and Raureti writes that ‘it was only natural that the newly constituted church should have a decided Wesleyan-Anglican bias.’ Raureti also looks at the liturgy and symbolism and asserts that Ratana drew on Biblical sources with some additions and with Ratana being considered Mangai or the voice-piece of God. The tours abroad are discussed as is the move into the political field, with short biographical accounts given of the various Ratana Members of Parliament.