An Island to Oneself

A South Seas classic since 1966, this is the story of one New Zealander brave enough to do what we have all now and then dreamed of doing – live alone on a desert island

In his youth Tom Neale was an ordinary seaman and for years a shopkeeper among the Cook Islands, but he was in his fifties when he turned his back on society to live alone on the South Pacific atoll of Suvarov (now known as Suwarrow). With him he took nothing but a couple of cats, some bric-a-brac to tie and bolt his meagre dwelling, and the strength of body and mind to survive.

In the six years over which Neale wrote this autobiography there were heroic moments when he battled the elements: the furious hurricane that engulfed the coral islet; five desperate hours in a stormy lagoon with a cripplingly strained back; even a reluctant bit of blood-letting on wild pigs and a mammoth sea turtle.

But along with the toils and perils were years of peace and beauty: building a chicken coop; baking with banana leaves; the delight drawn from a sip of brandy; and taming a wild duck. All of these simple pleasures are a reminder of what we take for granted in our own lives today.

Tom Neale was born in Wellington, New Zealand, but his family soon moved to Greymouth, where his father became paymaster for the state coal mines. Eventually the family settled in Timaru. At eighteen Tom signed on as an apprentice engineer in the New Zealand Navy, where he spent four years before buying himself out in order to wander among the South Pacific islands, clearing bush, fishing and preparing copra. He later settled on Moorea, where he learned to speak Taihitian. In 1943 he accepted a job as store-keeper in the Cook Islands, and from there he sailed to Suvarov, now known as Suwarrow.

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