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!

Bobby, Miss Opal

By

Cooladdi was a place of great importance and togetherness for us Martin family, and Bobby was a shining light for her younger siblings during this period of our lives.

A wonderful storyteller with a creative sense of humour, she loved sitting around the kitchen table at night telling stories of make-believe and fantasy and capturing the imagination of her mystified audience. And, on special occasions she would get up on the table and treat us to a wonderful rendition of the old classic love song by Louis Armstrong, “Hello Dolly”.

Her many talents were not limited to the performing arts, Bobby was also an aspiring sports person. Each year the Cooladdi kids would travel to Charleville on the back of an old cattle truck to attend the annual sports event. Bobby won the high jumping competition in fine style with the skirt ducked into her Bombay bloomers showing off her long skinny legs and beating the local favourite and much to the delight of her cheering supporters.

Family was a very important part of Bobby’s life and even after leaving school at Cooladdi and finding work on a cattle station near Charleville, she would always return home to be with her beloved younger brothers and sisters. And of course, she’d be cashed up and ready to treat us to chocolate Polly waffles and ice cream from the local store.

Bobby was a rare talent and a woman who possessed natural poise and beauty. It was evident to all who knew her and with those qualities she won the inaugural Miss Opal beauty contest in Brisbane in the early 1970s. I was so proud to be her partner.

Bobby was very protective of her siblings, and on one particular occasion at school, the teacher became overzealous with Ray when he got his spellings right. He tossed Ray into the air but somehow the catch didn’t work out, and poor old Ray finished on the floor with a split head.

Bobby immediately reacted and attacked the teacher and gave him an awful verbal spray and threatened to hit him with the cane.

That teacher never messed with Ray again. That was my big sister, Bobby. Bless her soul.