Farewell Peter Clarke

For the past ten years the Norfolk Island Museum has twice weekly presented to visitors the play "The Trial of the Fifteen". Written by Peter Clarke the play very successfully presents the layers of Norfolk's history in an entertaining one hour performance. Peter wrote the play for the Museum however accepted no payment, or royalties for its performance. Over the past ten years the Museum has benefited from the profits of the play, with over $100,000 being available for projects outside our normal expenditure.

Very sadly, Peter passed away in Nelson NSW recently.

Therefore it was a great privilege to be involved with the wake for Peter held last Saturday at the Ferny Lane Theatre. Special thanks to the cast of “The Trial of the Fifteen” for a wonderful performance of Peter’s play and for setting up the staging. David Buffet presented the eulogy which together with speeches by Peter’s son Stephen and Charisse’s son Desmond Fisher, left us with no doubt that Peter was a prolific creative talent with a great passion for Norfolk Island.

This was also summed up through the screening of a song that Peter wrote with Stephen, and performed by Stephen. Called “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” it included visuals of scenes from around the island and words that describe the beauty and uniqueness of the people and landscape. Peter certainly was a strong advocate for the island, using his writing skills for our benefit.

It was also wonderful to meet Stephen who will be ‘taking over the reins’ of the play. He later visited us at the Museum and it was good to be able to show him the Museum Theatre and the historic court room setting that the play is usually performed in. Stephen has told us he will be back on the island regularly and we really look forward to working with him.

Our photo is of Stephen when he visited us at the Museum.