Pictures: Robert Trathen.
Fiona Tarlton looks at her son Tane and sees a familiar spark – the same fearless, adventurous spirit that once burned in her late father Kelly Tarlton.
Now 23, Tane never got to meet his legendary grandfather, the daring treasure hunter, underwater explorer and founder of the iconic Auckland aquarium that still bears his name. Kelly died 40 years ago, at the age of 47.
But he’s keenly aware of the massive legacy his relative left behind and is already stepping into Kelly’s bold, visionary footsteps.
He’s about to host his own TV show, Tane Tarlton’s Ocean Adventures. With it, he aims to shine a spotlight on marine conservation around New Zealand’s coastline. At the same time, he’s restoring a bright-orange lifeboat he bought off Trade Me. Tane is planning an epic journey to circumnavigate the country to uncover the issues facing our oceans. He wants to make conservation “fun and engaging”.
It’s a mission fuelled by gratitude – to both his mother and grandfather, who instilled in him a sense of adventure and a passion for protecting our seas.
“Kelly’s been a huge influence on my life and the career I’ve chosen as I’ve got older,” says Tane. He last year raised $23,000 for men’s health by riding the length of Aotearoa on an e-scooter.
“It’s been an incredible journey learning what he was able to achieve in his short lifetime. It shows what’s possible when you come up with an idea and make it happen. But I’ve also been very lucky to have an amazing mum, who’s also very adventurous. She has taken me on multiple adventures and she’s been a key part in building me into the man I’ve become.”
Fiona, 58, was just a teenager when her father passed away in 1985. He passed seven weeks after he opened Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and the night after he welcomed the 100,000th visitor through his innovative aquarium.
She remains an avid scuba- diver, having taught Tane to snorkel before he turned five.
Recalls Fiona, “He was scuba-diving at 11 and had a speargun at 12. We’d go to different Pacific Islands every year for diving adventures.”
At 17, Tane volunteered on a marine conservation ship off California with Kiwi environmentalist Captain Pete Bethune. Then, he went on to work on superyachts around the world.
Says Fiona, “There are a lot of similarities Tane shares with his grandfather. I know Kelly would be extremely proud of him. He’s my only child and he’s a genuine, humble young guy doing all these incredible things under his own steam now. He’s already having an impact on other young people’s lives, so watch out. There’s a lot of exciting things to come!”
Tane says he’s gained a deeper appreciation of Kelly’s achievements through a new podcast made by family friend and radio personality Hamish Williams. The six-part RNZ series dives into Kelly’s final, unfinished treasure hunt – the quest to finally bring one of our oldest authentic European artefacts to the surface.
“Having this podcast is a massive resource, not only to all New Zealanders, but also to myself,” shares Tane. “I’m very curious to discover as much as I can about who Kelly was and how he got these amazing projects to happen.”
The extensive list of Kelly’s achievements is “magnificent”, adds Tane. A celebrated marine archaeologist and diver, he was a pioneer in underwater exploration and a visionary tourism entrepreneur. Still one of Auckland’s top attractions, Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium was the first to feature a curved acrylic tunnel, which is now used in more than 70 aquariums worldwide.
But above all, Kelly was also a devoted husband to Rosemary, and a loving dad to their two daughters Fiona and Nicole.
Fiona laughs, “Kelly was this scruffy guy, who couldn’t sit still in class as a kid and left school early. He loved the outdoors and he was a top scout who became a mountaineer. But he also loved to organise parties and fun social occasions.
“He worked hard. Even if he wasn’t sure how to do a job, he’d always say yes. Then he’d work it out later,” she remembers. “People told him he should keep his practical job as a technician for the post office. But, he took a massive risk by quitting to follow his passion for exploring shipwrecks around the country and the world.”
He even took on underwater construction work to make ends meet. As his daughters grew, Kelly passed on his love of snorkelling, diving and research. The skill would help shape Fiona’s future career as a rescue archaeologist.
Today, she’s a trustee of Kelly Tarlton’s Marine Wildlife Trust, protecting the Hauraki Gulf’s biodiversity and rehabilitating sea turtles.
Kelly’s dream to share the ocean’s mysteries came to life in 1970, when he opened a Museum Of Shipwrecks at Waitangi on the barque Tui. Its bounty included the Rothschild jewels and other treasures recovered from the deep.
But one of Kelly’s most significant salvages was an anchor from St. Jean Baptiste, the ship of French explorer Jean-François de Surville. The ship had sought shelter from a storm in Doubtless Bay in the Far North in 1769. During the storm, it lost three of its anchors.
Over two centuries later, Kelly raised the first of them from the depths. The Tarlton family later donated it to Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, where it hangs in the entrance. It’s the oldest authentic European object anyone has ever found here.
In one of Kelly Tarlton’s final dives, in 1982, he located the last remaining de Surville anchor still on the ocean floor. Although he recorded its precise latitude and longitude, the family lost the coordinates.
The mystery resurfaced a few years ago when Fiona was sailing up Northland’s east coast aboard Hamish’s yacht. Rosemary, now 80, arrived at the boat before it left Auckland with a bouquet of flowers.
“I came to the conclusion she greatly misjudged what kind of boat Fiona was sailing on!” says Hamish. But the flowers were for Kelly, whose ashes were scattered at the Poor Knights Islands. The crew threw the blooms into the sea as the boat passed under a full moon.
“So Kelly’s memory became a prominent part of the journey,” says Hamish. “And Fiona started sharing stories about her dad I had no idea about, like the missing de Surville anchor. She said, ‘It’s still there and we need to find it,’ and I thought that could be a lot of fun. That’s where the idea for a podcast was born.”
Hamish delved into 100 hours of Kelly talking on cassette tapes. Then, he interviewed colleagues and fellow treasure hunters from his “outrageous and often dangerous expeditions”. He also assembled a crew of marine enthusiasts to scour the Doubtless Bay seabed for the final anchor using cutting-edge technology.
Fiona has yet to listen to the podcast’s findings. “But I can’t wait to hear all these people sharing their memories on Kelly,” she says. “I’m sure I’ll learn things even I didn’t know about him before.
“It’s like rescue archaeology, grabbing these personal stories about Kelly before they’re gone forever. This history can impact generations to come.”
Kelly Tarlton’s Final Treasure Hunt is available from Friday on rnz.co.nz or wherever you get your podcasts.
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