Garry Sonny Martin

My name’s Garry Martin, but most people know me as Sonny.

Welcome to my Blog! I will be updating this page with new stories from time to time. 

I write stories about my childhood growing up in western Queensland to show the next generations what it was like growing up as a Blackfulla in the 1950s and 1960s.

I write these stories with the help of my daughter, Angie Faye Martin, to preserve memories of the past for future generations. Above all, I hope my granddaughters – Lailah and Ruby – find joy and meaningful connections in these stories.

I started documenting my childhood when I was in Oakey with my brother, Owen (Poe), and my mother, Zona Martin née Leslie. It was a quiet and nostalgic time for me – I finally felt time and space to really reflect on the past. My daughter was calling frequently from Melbourne during the Covid lockdowns and wanting information about the past for her debut novel, Melaleuca. She was particularly interested in stories from the yumba and how life was back then.

I hope you enjoy these yarns, have a laugh and remember our loved ones. There’ll be more coming soon!

Jack and Zona

By

One day Mum went to visit her mother, Nan Leslie, in the Charleville hospital and that’s where she would first meet my father, Jack Martin.

Dad came up from Cunnamulla to see the doctor as he was sick with rheumatic fever and spent several weeks in hospital before returning home.

He was a good-looking man my father, tall with fair complexion and soft hazel-coloured eyes. Any wonder mum fell in love with him. He was a smart dresser and much sort-after by the ladies of the town.

On the other hand, Mum was also good looking and it’s easy to see why Dad fell for her. With sharp facial features, high cheekbones and a beautiful olive complexion, Mum stood out in any crowd and had heads turning.

The start of a wonderful romance and a life-long relationship begin in the wards of the Charleville hospital, and as they say, the rest is history.

Dad lived and worked around Cunnamulla as a station hand, and most of his family were also living there before they would move to Charleville.

Mum said she really enjoyed her time in Cunnamulla and found a job working as a domestic at the local pubs.

When they first arrived in Cunnamulla, the word must have gotten around that Dad had a good-looking woman from New South Wales. She told me the story about the day they went to visit Dad’s cousin Ruby and her husband.

‘They were in bed when we got to their house,’ Mum said. ‘And when Jack called out to them, Ruby replied, “Where’s ya New South Wales gin Jackie?”’ And Mum continues saying that Dad proudly nudged her into the entrance of the bedroom so they could see her from where they lay in bed. “Here she is Ruby, this is Zona, my woman from Moree.”’

Mum said she was so embarrassed, but not as embarrassed as Ruby appeared because as Mum describes, ‘Ruby just sank slowly down under the blanket and hid her face in shame.’

Mum and Dad would live in Cunnamulla until Mum had a terrible accident.

She told me that a railway sleeper (a sleeper is a heavy log used to support the railway tracks) fell on both her feet and she was admitted to the hospital in Cunnamulla.

Nan Leslie went to Cunnamulla and brought her back to Charleville where she spent several weeks recovering and getting treatment at the local hospital.

Mum said her and Dad lived in a tent in Cunnamulla during their time there, and would bring the tent to Charleville where they’d eventually set it up on the original Yumba near where the scout hall stands today.