Wellington Supreme Court building

An 1880s photograph of the Supreme Court Building (later known as the Old District Court Building) in Wellington from its frontage on Whitmore Street.

In early 1889 Te Kooti was arrested and convicted of unlawful assembly at Ōmarumutu as he attempted to attend the opening of the meeting house Rongopai (Gospel), one of four houses built for him in Poverty Bay. The resident magistrate at Ōpōtiki ordered that he be sent to Mount Eden gaol in Auckland. He was released after only two days on condition that he never return to Poverty Bay. The conviction was overturned in the Supreme Court but reinstated by the Court of Appeal.