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BORN TO BE DIFFERENT
• 1934: Born August 5, during the Great Depression, Martin St. James was raised in the outback desert goldfields of Western Australia. Born into poverty, born to be different, not knowing his father. Later in life it was revealed that he was conceived as the result of his mother being raped by the son of one of Australia's famous pioneer politician women. She was the assistant to the Second World War Prime Minister - John Curtin.
From the humble beginnings , the extra ordinary background of Martin's unusual journey before and into this life. (click for the inside story)
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• The Second World War affected his schooling and even though his academic abilities left much to be desired, he excelled in social activities and the arts.
• 1939: Made his debut on stage at 5 years of age singing "Santa Lucia" to raise funds for war bonds.
• 1946-1948: He worked hard delivering newspapers before and after school since age of 8, to help his family. Saved and bought a second hand guitar. He taught himself to play and wrote his own songs. Soon he was entertaining the locals.
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• It was imperative that most travelling shows and circuses performed in Norseman, Western Australia. It was on the only road linking East and West. The last town in West Australia any one could acquire supplies before travelling thousands of miles across the Great Australian Desert. His family resided there, after being evacuated from the North, when Japanese invaded Darwin. Young Jamesy fulfilled his education seeing most travelling shows, always offering his services and learning. He was ambitious. At 13 years of age, three times he volunteered to be hypnotised, being the star for the night of a travelling stage hypnotist show. His fascinating story really began here. Whilst catching wild horses with very rough boys, he had memorised the hypnotist's patter and boasted of his new found powers. Several boys challenged him to hypnotise them. Soon in the dust and dirt of an old Gold Mine diggings, several boys were playing imaginary pianos to the delight of the laughing screaming group of urchins. (click for the inside story)
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HYPNOTIST OVER NIGHT
• Jamesy's reputation grew over night. His friends believed he hypnotised and subdued a wild horse. He was left with a long scar on his upper arm as a reminder of that encounter - the first "Horse Whisperer". The story is to be told in his biography. There is also a movie script written regarding this incident. An unbelievable tale, but true.
• 1949: Jamesy ran away from home to seek his fortune. With his faithful guitar and a small amount of savings he arrived in Perth. Synchronicity has played a large part in Martin's life. This time Martin was led to a man who claimed to be his biological father. He also claimed to be the rightful heir to a fortune. His name was Joseph Overell and wanted to transfer papers to Martin. Many years ago “Overells” was the biggest department store in Sydney and is now known as David Jones. Overwhelmed by this, Martin ran away again. He wanted to make it on his own.
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| • 1950: Left Western Australia to follow his dream in the eastern states. His ambition was to perform in U.S.A.He was waylaid. Married at 17 and now a father. Penniless he worked at many jobs to support his small family—tram conductor, grocer, butter factory, telephone company, etc. |
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