Norman Martin
| Birth: | , Yorkshire, England |
|---|---|
| Death: | , Perth, Western Australia |
| Parents: | Fred Martin |
| Siblings: | |
| Partners: | Joan Soutter Martin (née Lodge) 1892–1990 |
| Children: | Frederick Lodge Martin 1914–1941 Dennis Lodge Martin Born 1916, Perth. Died 1945, shot down in Borneo. Patricia Hanson Robertson (née Martin) 1921 – 2015 Constance Janet Wallman (née Martin) b.1929 |
| Authority control |
Permalink: archives.org.au/NM Wikitree: Martin-73615 Ancestry: 312546650829 |
Second son of Fred Martin.[1][2]
Norman Martin married Joan Soutter Martin (née Lodge) on 29 April 1913.[1] See Joan's page for the report or the wedding published in The South-Western News.
Extracts from The West Australian dated 9 June, 1973. This was an interview with Norman Martin by Ross Cusack and titled A Compleat Angler:[3]
The ever-present sense of humour bubbled over again as Norman Martin describe how he used to fish with the much-loved Jimmy Mitchell, former Premier and Governor.
Norman - he is 91 years old now - and Jimmy Mitch used to fish all night on the Busselton jetty, and the great man always wore a blue suit and had a habit of wiping his fishy hands down the front of it...
Until he retired in 1941, Norman was a records and correspondence clerk in the Department of Agriculture, and it seemed only natural for him to keep a detailed record of all his fishing experiences.
In the ten years between 1942 and 1952 he caught 7,225 fish with a rod from the Cottesloe jetty and another 14,765 on handlines from a dinghy off south Cottesloe...
Finally a kaleidoscope of incidents recalled over 70 years:
- A loud-mouthed bully cut a woman's line after she had cast over him on the Cottesloe jetty. A one-eyed man protested gallantly, and the bully knocked him unconscious. Norman and three mates grabbed the bully and dangled him over the side of the jetty until he pleaded for his life, screaming that he couldn't swim.
- At Nornalup a woman hooked a fish, wound it right up to the rod tip, and asked helplessly: "What will I do now?" A companion quipped: "climb up the rod and cut his throat."
- Nine years ago when he was 82, Norman went for an involuntary swim off the end of the Busselton jetty. He was fishing for garfish and was alarmed to see a shunting locomotive bearing down on him. There was only one way he could go and after he was rescued the loco crew sat him up near the firebox to help him to dry out and get warm. They wanted to take him to hospital, but Norman would have none of it. He went back to the end of the jetty and caught another ten garfish.
- A day on the Cottesloe jetty in the 1920s when a big tiger shark attacked a man in the shallows and the victim bled to death on the beach. Norman remembers trying to shepherd
his two sons away out of sight. He recalls that the man was closer to the beach than several other swimmers yet the shark came right in for him.
His farewell comment was typical: "Whatever you put in the paper I won't deny it because I'm too old for them to call me a liar."
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Family Notices (1938, April 29). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 1. Retrieved August 29, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41681091
- ↑ 1913 'SOCIAL NOTES.', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), 14 May, p. 10. , viewed 20 Jul 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26874301
- ↑ Family Recipes (2006)
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