Owen Wilkes (1940–2005) was known throughout the Pacific and across the world as an outstanding researcher on peace and disarmament. His work exposed plans to build a US Navy satellite tracking station in the Southern Alps; identified a foreign spy base at Tangimoana (near Bulls); led to job offers from leading peace research institutes in Norway and Sweden — and an espionage charge for taking photographs during a cycling holiday; supported local campaigns against foreign military activity in the Philippines, and for a nuclear-free Pacific.