About

My name is Brett Martin. I wrote “Marion” over a period of 6 years, beginning in 2008.

I was looking into the life of Robert Carl Sticht, when I came across an interview Heather Gaunt had with Ethel Barnes (nee Robertson), while researching her article on the Sticht collection.

http://www3.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-79/t1-g-t2.html

Ethel was the maid who accompanied Marion into Balfour at the end of her life. I saw immediately that her brief account of that fall from grace revealed a story of tragic scope.

When I first  set about researching Marion’s life I could find only a handful of references, half of which were incorrect (she returned to the USA and lived happily ever after, died in Burnie, lost a child, etc etc.) As I began to unearth information, however, I realised that Marion was not only an amazing story in her own right but that she was representative of the lost stories of the women of the West Coast in those turbulent times.

My contact details:

27 Cathcart St, Swansea. Tasmania. 7190. Australia

brett.martin8@bigpond.com