Heart-wrenching, significant, fascinating: Tom Clarke

Tom Clarke's Today in History New Zealand series began in 1983 when he began a day catalogue of events that shaped Aotearoa. His recent book, Great Tales of Aotearoa, is a second volume of 30 stories that reflect the struggles and indomitable spirit of New Zealanders, following on from the success of his first collection Our Untold Stories.

He has a background in journalism (TV, radio and prints), radio, PR, marketing and business management. Despite having 'retired', he continues to do freelance writing, sub-editing and proofreading for several publications. Kete spoke to Tom about his two books, the project they sprang from, and what he's doing next.

Kia ora Tom, thank you for speaking with Kete! Your books, Our Untold Stories (Bateman Books, 2023) and Great Tales of Aotearoa (2026) grew out of your Today in History New Zealand series for radio. That must have been an incredible undertaking, with so many more events than you were able to record in your books?

Indeed yes. My Today in History New Zealand is a major resource that has involved almost 50 years of research and recording.  As the title suggests, it  is a day by day record of the important and major events that have happened in New Zealand or have involved Zealand or New Zealanders, since the departure of Abel Tasman from Batavia on his voyage of discovery in 1642. It is being published next year by Bateman under the tile New Zealand History Day by Day and it will record events from Tasman in 1642 right through to December 31, 2026. It lists in total more than 4,500 events covering 366 days of the year (allowing for Leap Year).

What is the furthest or strangest research you’ve had to do for a date or a story?

Probably the furthest inquiries have been to England and organisations such as the United Grand Lodge of England,  the Imperial War Museum and several different English and Scottish universities. Other inquiries have taken me to sources in Canada, the USA, and Australia.  I must note that in every case, I’ve received the utmost cooperation and willingness to provide me with the information I’ve sought.

Many times I’ve had to turn to online sources such as Facebook to locate descendants of the people that I’ve written about – not always successfully.  But there have been cases where I was fortunately able to track down living descendants.

One of these was the story of Alexander von Tunzelmann who in 1895 at the age of 17, became the first New Zealander - and possibly the first person ever - to set foot on the Antarctic Continent. His story featured in the first book, Our Untold Stories. Through Facebook I was able to track down Alan von Tunzelmann, the grandson of Alexander who was able to provide me with more information about his grandfather and a photo of him.

Another story that features in Great Tales of Aotearoa, is the heartbreaking story of John and Christina Polson who in 1869 – in the depths of Central Otago in a bitter winter with snow deep outside their little stone cottage - lost their two new born babies within hours of their birth. Adding to the tragedy was that the ground outside was frozen and they were unable to dig a grave to bury their two little boys. Instead, they buried them in the snow outside until the frozen ground thawed sufficiently for them to be properly interred. I was able to locate the Polson family, including the great-grandson of John and Christina, Ross Polson, who very kindly provided me with more information and photos of the isolated stone cottage and the twins’ eventual resting place on Morven Hills station.

Were there stories you’d have liked to include in the book but weren’t factually strong enough?
No, not really. There are thousands of entries in the Today in History series, so I had a lot of potential stories to consider. The stories that have made it into these two books were ones I considered to be the most interesting, the most heart wrenching, the most historically significant and the most fascinating of those entries.

Do you have a favourite story in this collection?

Hard question to answer, because there are several that are my favourites.  The John and Christina Polson story; New Zealand’s incredible World War I and World War II hero and our first home-grown governor-general, Lieutenant-General Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, whose heroism is the stuff of legends; the horrific story of the emigrant ship Cospatrick lost at sea after catching fire, with only three of the 477 people aboard managing to survive under horrific circumstances; New Zealand’s world leading polyglot who knew more than 100 languages – a feat never accomplished before or since; and finally, the new health drink produced and promoted by the famous Rotorua Bathhouse – radioactive water!

Tell us what inspires you? An author, a book, a place, or whatever you like…

In terms of writing - to record for posterity and make widely known fascinating and important stories and outstanding people from New Zealand’s past.

In terms of personal inspiration – the mountains, lakes and plains of the Mackenzie County and Central Otago.

What Aotearoa New Zealand book do you wish you’d written?

There are many but, Blood Brothers – the Anzac Genesis by Jeff Hopkins-Weise.

What’s been your best read this year so far?

One Last Question, Prime Minister by Barry Soper, Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and for leisure reading, The Widow by John Grisham.

What are you writing next? Do you have plans for further extraordinary stories?

I’ve been working on a whodunit mystery for a while, but more realistically I have another 30-plus stories in mind for a third volume of Great Tales of Aotearoa. I plan to start on those once the New Zealand History Day by Day book is wrapped up, and assuming that Bateman Books is willing to take on a third volume!

Great Tales of Aotearoa is available in all good bookstores now.