New Zealand Underwater Heritage Group

Malcolm Blair. 2023 recipient of the Kelly Tarlton Recognition Award for services to New Zealand Underwater Heritage.

The presentation was at the New Zealand Underwater Heritage Group’s AGM & Conference held in Ruby Bay Nelson on 18th November 2023.Many of you will know Mal personally or have heard of his diving exploits over many years.

His contribution to New Zealand’s Underwater heritage can be put down to his passion for finding shipwrecks, uncovering the vessel’s history and its connection to the time period that the vessel operated in.

His involvement working a shipwreck with Kelly started with the SS Tasmania off the coast of the Mahia Peninsula (1897), searching for the lost Rothschild jewels.
Mal worked on the wreck with Kelly and his crew in 1974, when only five items of jewellery were found. He returned in1975 when nineteen items of jewellery were uncovered. Kelly eventually uncovered hundreds of items over a 10 year period.

In 1975, British explorer Commander Grattan RN invited Kelly to be part of his team to search for the General Grant a fully-rigged ship lost at the Sub-Antarctic
Auckland Islands in 1866 with 2576 ounces of gold held in two boxes. Kelly invited Mal to be part of the New Zealand diving team.
Mal continued with the search joining the following year's expedition members in 1976. Ten years later in 1986 he organised his own expedition aboard The
Little Mermaid with his then junior partner, professional firefighter, Bill Day. The wrecks final resting place is yet to be discovered.

Working with Kelly changed Mal's perspective relating to the historical or personal value of the items found.
Mal recalls when Kelly visited his home, he proudly showed Kelly his collection of portholes. Kelly then commented "Now show me the good stuff!" That's when
Mal learned the significance of a hair comb or a broken dinner plate and the images and stories they created about the people on board. The method of
construction of the vessel was also an important part of the discovery.

He opened his Wellington shop Divers World in 1976 and sold it 22 years later. In those years, Mal inspired many a new diver that there was more to diving than
grabbing a bag of crayfish. There were still many ships to be discovered and explore, far more exciting than an 8kg crayfish!

Congratulations Malcolm Blair, a worthy recipient of this Award.