Te Akakura Rua was born at Tawhana, the eldest daughter of Rua and his wife Te Akakura Ru. She attended Ruatoki Anglican mission but ran way from time to time. From 1926-28 she lived at Maungapohatu with her family before being sent to Turakina Māori Girls’ College for two years.
Biographical sources
- "Te Akakura Rua." Nga Mōrehu/The Survivors. Ed. Judith Binney and Gillian Chaplain. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1986. 174-185.
Biography
- "Te Akakura Rua." Nga Mōrehu/The Survivors. Ed. Judith Binney and Gillian Chaplain. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1986. 174-185.
- This account of Te Akakura’s life is taken from two tape-recordings of meetings between Binney, Chaplain and Te Akakura in December 1977 and from conversations in 1978 and 1979 recorded in note form. The story of the marriage of Te Akakura’s mother and Rua is recounted, and Te Akakura recalls her own short-lived arranged marriage, her role as the senior child [mātāmua] after the death of her father, and the difficulties of straddling the Māori and Pakeha worlds.