Kelly Tarlton Collection

Kelly Tarlton Collection

Kelly Tarlton

Tarlton 1937–1985, was an adventurer / entrepeneur focused on the marine world. His diving activities concentrated on shipwrecks. One outcome was the display of the material recovered in a private museum built within Tui, a beached former sugar lighter, at Paihia. It operated as a museum from 1970-2002. A key part of the collection was the Rothchild treasure recovered by Tarlton from the SS Tasmania wreck at Mahia in 1975. Rothchild was a jeweler. The Museum was robbed in 2000 by a notorious career criminal. The material taken valued at $300,000 included the Rothchild material and has never been recovered. The museum was sold in 2002 by Tarlton's widow and the remaining collections dispersed by sale.