Terry Clark: Gisborne's Infamous Mr Big
Updated: 15 hours ago
Terry Clark: Gisborne’s Notorious Mr Asia
Birthplace: Gisborne, New Zealand
Born: 12 November 1944 at the Edward Murphy Memorial Home a maternity hospital, Aberdeen Road, Gisborne
Childhood Family home: Ballance Street, Gisborne
Died: 11 August 1983, aged 38, in HM Prison Parkhurst, Isle of Wight, England
Full name: Terrence John Clark
Known aliases: Alexander James Sinclair, Terry Sinclair, Mr Asia
First documented conviction: Theft and interfering with a motor vehicle, Auckland, 24 August 1962, aged 17. Sentenced to 18 months’ probation.
Final conviction: Murder of Christopher Martin “Marty” Johnstone in England. Convicted on 15 July 1981 and sentenced to life imprisonment, with a recommended minimum of 20 years
Notoriety: International drug trafficking and leadership of the Mr Asia syndicate
Ask a Gisborne local of a certain age to name someone famous who came from the city, and you might hear the name of a rugby player, politician or musician.
But don't be surprised if someone says:
"Terry Clark."
Not because Gisborne is particularly proud of him.
More because, for much of the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was almost impossible to avoid him.
Long before Netflix documentaries, true crime podcasts and social media, New Zealanders followed the Mr Asia scandal the old-fashioned way. Through newspapers, television bulletins, magazine covers and endless speculation over a cup of tea.
Drugs.
Millions of dollars.
Murder.
International police investigations.
And at the centre of it all was a boy born in Gisborne on 12 November 1944.
Not many people leave Gisborne and become internationally famous.
Even fewer become internationally infamous.
Growing Up in Gisborne in the 1950s
When Terrence John Clark was born, the Second World War was still raging, petrol was rationed and Gisborne was a relatively isolated provincial town of fewer than 20,000 people.
It was a world of corner dairies, picture theatres, Saturday rugby, bicycles, freezing works and the occasional excitement of a new Holden appearing in someone's driveway.
Gladstone Road was the centre of town.
The harbour was an important connection to the outside world.
Waikanae Beach was already a favourite destination, and the surrounding farms helped keep local businesses busy.
Television hadn't arrived. There were no shopping malls, internet connections or cheap international flights.
Overseas travel was something most people dreamed about rather than did.
For a Gisborne youngster in the 1950s, Auckland seemed a long way away.
London might as well have been on another planet.
Yet Gisborne was changing.
The post-war years brought prosperity, employment and new suburban housing.
The freezing works, farming, fishing and food-processing industries helped drive the local economy.
In August 1955, when Clark was just ten years old, Gisborne officially became a city.
Population: 20,000.
There was even a degree of restrained jubilation, although the Mayor wisely postponed the proper celebrations until the following year.
By the time Clark reached his teenage years, the population was climbing towards 25,000, new homes and commercial buildings were appearing and the town was becoming increasingly confident about its future.
New Zealand was enjoying its golden economic years, ranking among the three wealthiest developed nations in the world, and Gisborne was sharing in that prosperity through booming pastoral industries and plentiful employment.
For most Gisborne teenagers, rebellion probably meant staying out too late, upsetting the parents or making a nuisance of themselves somewhere along Gladstone Road.
Clark would eventually take rebellion to an altogether different level.
There is relatively little reliable published detail about his personal childhood in Gisborne, his schooling or exactly when his criminal interests first developed.
As the 1960s unfolded, his criminal ambitions grew far beyond anything Gisborne could offer and he became a familiar figure to police through petty offending.
Clark left the prosperity of his hometown and made his way to Auckland by the time he was 17.
It was in Auckland on 24 August 1962 where he recorded his first conviction for theft and interfering with a motor vehicle and sentenced to 18 months’ probation.
It is one of the stranger contrasts in the city's history.
At a time when Gisborne was building houses, improving roads and celebrating its new civic status, one of its young residents was on a path that would eventually lead to international drug trafficking, immense wealth and murder.
Nobody looking around Gisborne in 1950s could reasonably have predicted that a young Gisborne boy would one day become one of Australasia's most notorious drug bosses.
Gisborne was growing up.
So was Terry Clark.
Unfortunately, they were heading in rather different directions.
From Small-Time Crook to Mr Big
In Auckland, Clark became involved with Marty Johnstone, a flamboyant drug dealer whose cannabis-importing operation was already making serious money.
Johnstone became known as "Mr Asia".
Clark, meanwhile, became the man who would eventually dominate the operation.
The syndicate moved beyond cannabis into heroin imported from Southeast Asia, supplying New Zealand and Australian markets.
Clark established himself in Australia, surrounded himself with trusted New Zealand associates and built an increasingly sophisticated criminal network.
False passports.
Secret bank accounts.
Overseas properties.
International drug shipments.
And an alarming number of people who ended up dead.
By the late 1970s, the former Gisborne petty criminal was a multimillionaire operating across international borders.
It was quite a career progression.
Just not one a Gisborne Boys' High School careers adviser would have recommended.
The Empire Falls Apart
Like many criminal empires, Clark's eventually became a victim of its own success and developed considerable paranoia.
Associates were suspected of informing.
Others disappeared or were murdered.
Then, in 1979, Marty Johnstone's mutilated body was discovered in a flooded quarry in England.
Clark had ordered the killing of the man whose drug operation had helped launch his extraordinary rise.
The international police investigation that followed exposed a world of heroin trafficking, corruption, betrayal and murder.
Clark was arrested in London, convicted of Johnstone's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
On 12 August 1983, he died in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, aged just 38.
A long way from Gisborne.
And an even longer way from the life most Gisborne parents might have imagined for their children.
The Story That Wouldn't Go Away
The Mr Asia scandal became one of New Zealand's most notorious criminal sagas.
Drugs.
Money.
Murders.
False identities.
International police investigations.
Royal Commissions.
And enough material for several television series.
In 2009, Clark's criminal exploits were dramatised in Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.
Decades later, the story was still being investigated and retold, including in the 2025 podcast series Mr Asia: A Forgotten History.
For older New Zealanders, Terry Clark remains a name from an era when criminal scandals dominated the evening news.
For younger generations, he's another astonishing character from New Zealand's occasionally unbelievable past.
And for Gisborne?
Well, he's certainly one of our more unusual claims to fame.
Gisborne's Other Criminal Intrigue
Oddly enough, Gisborne's connections with international drug trafficking didn't end with Terry Clark.
Almost two decades later, an elegant yacht called Lonebird would appear in Gisborne Harbour, stirring rumours, attracting police attention and becoming entangled in a mysterious tale of international cocaine smuggling with more than a passing resemblance to the Mr Asia saga.
Different decade.
Different drugs.
Same extraordinary intrigue.
Its story involved an unfounded connection to one of New Zealand's most infamous murder trials, a mysterious arrival in Gisborne Harbour, a sinking, salvage operations and, finally, a second sinking. This time, with the help of explosives.
Not bad for a yacht that was supposed to be minding its own business.
You can read that equally unlikely chapter in our story:
There's no established connection between the two criminal operations.
Just another example of how Gisborne occasionally finds itself appearing in stories that seem far too extraordinary for a quiet coastal city.
Only in Gisborne
These days, visitors arrive in Gisborne for the beaches, sunshine, wineries and relaxed pace of life.
Most have no idea that one of Australasia's most notorious criminal figures began life here.
Terry Clark left Gisborne and built an international reputation.
He made millions, travelled the world and became a household name.
Unfortunately, his particular interpretation of success involved heroin, murder and a life sentence.
Gisborne has produced plenty of remarkable characters.
Terry Clark was certainly one of them.
Just not the sort you'd put on a tourism billboard.
