Author(s): Edited by May Bass and Mark Derby

NZ Biography & Memoir

The life and work of outstanding New Zealand peace activist Owen Wilkes. Tributes from friends and associates.

Born in Christchurch, Owen Wilkes was an internationalist and a dedicated New Zealander — a subsistence farmer on the West Coast (where his self-built eco-home was demolished by the local council), an archaeologist, tramper and yachtsman.

Owen Wilkes (1940–2005) was known throughout the Pacific and across the world as an outstanding researcher on peace and disarmament.

In his lifetime Owen Wilkes

• exposed plans to build a US Navy satellite tracking station in the Southern Alps


• identified a foreign spy base at Tangimoana (near Bulls)


• had job offers from leading peace research institutes in Norway and Sweden


• an espionage charge for taking photographs during a cycling holiday


• supported local campaigns against foreign military activity in the Philippines, and for a nuclear-free Pacific.

Published by Raekaihau Press in association with Steele Roberts Aotearoa