John Martin was born in Stithians, Cornwall, where he was baptized on 29 July 1814[1] and taught in the village school.
[2] He arrived in South Australia on 21 November 1849,[3] and settled at Tungkillo, where he served as a catechist[4] and school master.
[12] He was universally regarded as an excellent teacher and a stern disciplinarian, but his use of the cane seems excessive, even for those days: "I remember that school well," said Mr. Wright, and he smiled ruefully.
"The master believed that the cane should play a big part in the education of the child, and he was a perfect artist in applying it.
I remember one of the boys had a stubborn temper and would not cry, and he made him place his hand on the desk and slammed away at it until he cut it to pieces.
He marched down to his place and put us in a shed in the yard, telling us to stay there until he had had his dinner, when he would come out and hear our lessons.
He left the Fellenberg School at the end of 1864 and moved to Melbourne, where the blasting compound was to be manufactured.
[17] He may have been living in South Yarra when the company was awarded £25 premium for initiating a new industry to the colony.
[18] As a director of the company, Thomas Martin chaired a meeting of shareholders in Melbourne in January 1866.
The W. Martin who was present at tests of the blasting compound in Glen Osmond, Adelaide, in 1864 was probably his youngest brother, William.