The Life Story of Darcy Martin

The Life Story of Darcy Martin

Dear Darcy and your family, Thank you for allowing me to write your life story.

It has been an amazing experience to be allowed to sit down with you and listen to your stories. From introductions to final product, I have enjoyed every step of this process and I hope you have as well. Between the information you and your family have given me I hope I have managed to portray it all well enough to serve you and your accomplishments justice. I hope that you can look back on this and smile.

I wish you all the best, Rebecca Zielinski Year 11

Darcy James Martin. He is a man much known for his endless discussions, filled to the brim with stories of his life and all the amazing feats within it. You can never be certain if those stories are all true, but after being told with such vigour and love, you would be hard pressed to find someone who would put up a fight. Darcy is always at the centre of attention, either he’s singing or simply calling out to talk to people. Darcy is a prime example of why its important to always put yourself forward and to just try. He has attempted and succeeded in so many fields throughout his life that it is nothing but extraordinary. Born on the 13 th of September 1936 in casino, New South wales. Darcy was brought up to live an eventful life. With 4 brothers and 1 sister, Darcy was never left alone. His father was said to be an amazing horseman and had taught Darcy to ride from a young age. Being an active child, he would play a variety of sports. Between cricket, rugby and tennis, Darcy played it all, and he played to win. This early spout of competitiveness would lead on to him continuing his active and sporting lifestyle for years to come. On top of teaching Darcy horse riding, his father also ensured that all his sons were proficient in boxing. And would coach not only them, but other boys from the neighbourhood as well, leading to many unofficial boxing matches throughout his childhood. Darcy’s passions continued to grow as he aged. He started singing in school choirs as a male soprano, which eventually led to him becoming a tenor after the inevitable voice crack. Eventually, his singing advanced and he would travel with the school choir to represent their collage.

Darcy was brought up alongside sheep and cattle dogs. Making it a natural process to end up training them. Refusing to train anything other than a border collie or a kelpie, Darcy took off in his new skill of work dog training and breeding. His skill became so proficient, that he began to travel around the world in order to show off his dogs. Bringing them to all sorts of exotic locations such as Singapore and Malaysia. Managing to make them so sought after that some of his highest selling dogs went for $10,000 each. Darcy even telling of a story from when he proclaimed that his dogs could work 1000 ducks, and the next time that he arrived at Singapore to show off the dogs, he had 1000 ducks waiting there for his dogs. As the story goes, Darcy stated that his dogs were ‘naturally’ able to complete the task with no hiccups, and had his dogs work them with ease. One day an amazing opportunity for Darcy and his dogs was when he was asked to have his dogs be a part of the opening ceremony for the Sydney Olympics. And one very special border collie, Shellzie, was even chosen to escort the flame bearer Kathy Freeman, to the cauldron.

On top of the dogs, he also pursued in training racehorses and campdrafters. Training and selling them in the millions. The best of which were Parlez Royale as his finest racehorse and Saratoga as his favourite campdrafter. Always riding was one of his sons, Conal, who was his best jockey, but only on a good day. He continued his competitive sporting side. Earning a place on the New South Wales cricketing team. As if that wasn’t enough, he was also a rugby league player, who later ended up coaching. Darcy was known to be an all-rounder when it came to anything sport related. However, sporting wasn’t the only trait he was good at. Being an almost jack of all traits, Darcy was and still is, an amazing singer, a musician of the mouth organ, if you will. Bringing him to even sing solo on television. He also sang with a concert group in Toowoomba. Eventually, Darcy decided to create is own band, ‘The Martinets’. As the lead singer, under the stage name ‘Warren Scott’ they travelled and sang in clubs and pubs everywhere. At one point in his singing career he was able to tour as a vocal soloist with RonRicco who was a famous hypnotist. Singing his whole life, Darcy claims that he can sing anything, and you’ll know when he doesn’t like someone else’s singing. Even in his later life, he still sings for everyone, from kindergarteners to friends, he’ll sing for anyone. Stating that singing makes him happy, and if you’re happy, then the people around you or that you’re singing to, will feel that warmth and you can transfer that into them.

To Darcy, his family was and will always be incredibly special to him and has driven himself for them to be as close a possible. His only daughter, Julanne, his five sons, D’Arcy Jr, Tony, Conal, Christopher and Trent. And finally, his wonderful wife, Joan. Who, to get her to meet him and to play multiple tricks on her, ones of which he later completely forgot about. An amazingly lovely woman who once was a school teacher, and now gives her time up to help out Darcy and many others. Darcy has lived a life full of excitement and exploration. Trying and succeeding in many fields and is a much-loved man. From his snarky or sarcastic comments to his humours stories, his personality is one that joins people together. And in his words, ‘If I’m here, everyone wants to stay.’

Darcy Martin

For the man who shows you to try, Not to stop yourself, Because you are who you were meant to be But that doesn’t stop you from adding more onto that list of legacies That you will leave behind you

Your sport filled life Showing the importance of staying active With rugby, cricket, tennis Proving that a not so small dose of competitiveness Is, indeed healthy

Your care for animals, Between your border collies and horses, The many stories of traveling the world with them Show the perfect mix of being strict whilst showing compassion, That patience is necessary when dealing with others

Your love of music, Verifying that you can love in a variety of ways Singing until your heart is content And showering those around you in the warm that you create with your voice gaining attention from all around you, to show them, your love