How The Target Was Inspired by New Zealand's Unsolved Trades Hall Bombing
Many novel begins with a question. For The Target, that question was simple. What would happen if one of New Zealand's most notorious unsolved crimes happened again?
The answer became a political thriller set in a near-future New Zealand. But the inspiration came from a very real event that occurred more than forty years ago and remains one of the country's most enduring mysteries.
On the night of 27 March 1984, a bomb exploded at the Trades Hall building in Wellington. The blast killed caretaker Ernie Abbott when he opened a suitcase left in the building. Despite a major investigation and decades of speculation, no one has ever been convicted for the crime.
For many New Zealanders, the Trades Hall bombing is little more than a footnote in history. Yet it remains the country's only fatal domestic bombing and one of the most significant unsolved criminal cases in New Zealand's history.
Trailer for a cold case documentary about the Trades Hall bombing
When I first began researching the case, I was struck not only by the bombing itself but by how quickly it seemed to fade from public discussion. The event occurred during a turbulent period of political and economic change. Trade unions were powerful organisations, political tensions were high and New Zealand was on the verge of a transformation that would reshape the country.
The more I read, the more questions emerged.
Who carried out the attack?
Why target a union building?
How could such a significant crime remain unsolved for decades?
Most importantly, what might happen if a similar attack occurred in today's New Zealand?
Those questions became the foundation of The Target.
From History to Fiction
The Target is not a retelling of the Trades Hall bombing. The characters, events, and conspiracy at the heart of the novel are fictional. However, the real bombing provided a starting point.
In the novel, an explosion at a union headquarters in Wellington triggers a national crisis. Politicians, journalists, intelligence officers, and ordinary citizens are drawn into a complex investigation where appearances are often misleading and competing interests fight to control the narrative.
The story explores themes that felt increasingly relevant during the writing process.
How much surveillance is acceptable in a democratic society?
Who benefits from fear?
How do governments, corporations, and media organisations shape public understanding of major events?
While the novel takes these questions into fictional territory, they all stem from a genuine historical event that continues to generate debate and speculation.
Why the Trades Hall Bombing Still Matters
One reason the Trades Hall bombing remains fascinating is that it sits at the intersection of crime, politics, and history.
Unsolved cases naturally attract attention because they leave questions unanswered. Human beings seek closure, and when closure never arrives, theories flourish.
Yet the bombing is significant for another reason. It targeted an organisation that played a major role in New Zealand society. Trade unions have been central to many of the country's political and economic battles. Whether one supports unions or opposes them, their influence on New Zealand's development is undeniable.
The bombing occurred during a period when industrial relations were often contentious and deeply political. Looking back from the present day, it offers a window into a very different New Zealand.
Researching that environment helped shape the world of The Target. Although the novel is set in the future, many of the tensions explored in the story have roots in the past. History has a habit of repeating itself, although rarely in exactly the same way.
The Research Process
One of the most rewarding aspects of writing historical-inspired fiction is the research.
Newspaper archives, contemporary reports, historical commentary, and accounts of the investigation all contributed to my understanding of the bombing and its wider context. Research often begins with facts but eventually becomes about atmosphere.
What did Wellington feel like in 1984?
What issues dominated public debate?
How did people view unions, government institutions, and political power?
The answers to those questions are often more useful to a novelist than the technical details of a criminal investigation.
A novel succeeds when readers believe in the world being presented to them. Historical research provides the foundation for that belief, even when the story itself is fictional. Many details uncovered during research never appear directly in the finished book. Instead, they help create authenticity beneath the surface. Readers may never see the research, but they can usually sense when it exists.
Fiction as a Way of Exploring History
Historical fiction and political thrillers often serve a similar purpose. They allow readers to engage with difficult questions in a way that is both accessible and entertaining. A history book asks what happened. A novel asks what it felt like. A thriller asks what might happen next.
For me, The Target became a way of exploring issues that continue to shape New Zealand today, including political accountability, public trust, media influence, surveillance, and the relationship between power and ordinary citizens.
The Trades Hall bombing provided the spark, but the story quickly expanded beyond the historical event itself.
Rather than revisiting the past, the novel uses the past as a lens through which to examine the present and imagine possible futures.
Bringing the Story to Square Edge
Riley Chance holding a photo of front page of 1927 Newspaper - part of the display - dominated by the Trades Hall bombing
The connection between The Targetand the Trades Hall bombing is currently explored through a display at Square Edge Arts Centre.
The display brings together material related to the novel's development, including research sources, historical references, media coverage, and background information about the real events that inspired the story. The display offers visitors a chance to see how a real historical event can evolve into a work of fiction.
Many people assume novels emerge fully formed from imagination. In reality, stories often begin with a newspaper article, a forgotten historical incident, or a question that refuses to go away. In the case of The Target, that question began with an unsolved bombing in Wellington more than four decades ago.
Why We Continue to Tell These Stories
The Trades Hall bombing remains unsolved. The people involved may never be identified. The full truth may never be known. Yet stories connected to the event continue to resonate because they touch on issues that remain relevant. Questions about power, justice, accountability, and truth do not disappear simply because time passes.
Good fiction cannot solve historical mysteries. What it can do is encourage readers to think about them. If The Target succeeds in doing anything, I hope it encourages readers to look beyond the headlines, question easy answers, and take an interest in the events that have shaped New Zealand's history. Sometimes the most compelling stories are not the ones we invent.
They are the ones that actually happened.