Season Three Episode Two

“It’s never too late to start again”

Fiery feminist and cattle farmer move to New Guinea with with 2-week old Martine on their lap to build roads in the jungles.

Forgive my clumsy questions around racism here - Martine engages brilliantly. 

Martine Cotton has had a fascinating life in one of the many many ways to lead them. Born in Brisbane, she has now returned there by way of New Guinea, Japan, Far North Queensland and many exciting music tours around Australia. 

What have Powderfinger, Gwen Stefani, Nick Cave and Mogwai got in common? Martine has stories about all of them. 

In this conversation, we navigate from Martine being raised in the Aussie community in New Guinea for her early years, to return to life in Australia, the horrors of boarding school, the joy of studying film at university, being at the helm of the Australian music industry in the 90s, an unexpected move to Japan, a stint in the beautiful tropics of Far North Queensland and then what brought her back to Brisbane and her decision, aged 50 to start studying for a BSc in nutrition. 

We delve into the racism so deeply ingrained in Australia, and older generations of family, and how she navigates that through the lens of the social justice.

Martine is passionate on the topic of public health and the societal and individual changes that can be made to help people to not only live long but to live in good health. It’s fascinating listening to her talk about her wish to change public perception around what’s possible for healthy living.

We talk about:

• The life and soul of the party - how her Mum and Dad loved to enjoy themselves and how she honoured them in death.
• Bananas, tinned sheep’s brains and more.
• Boarding School Syndrome
• Getting older and being gentler
• Every project doesn’t have to be the best - being good can be enough
• How she got into studying film
• Writing Romantic fiction about Duran Duran and Adam and the Ants
• The paradoxes of both being devoted and loving family and the schisms that happen
• Band management and club promotion and her deep love of music and bands 
• A move to Japan and how Blogging in the early and mid-2000s brought people together, including us
• Nutrition, DNA, Food as medicine

"It’s never too late to start again"

Martine Cotton is something of a jill-of-many-trades, in more rarefied hallways perhaps you could call her a 'multipotentialite'. Mostly because she gets bored quickly once she's worked out the ins and outs of a role or skill. She's forged out career stints in the music industry as a venue manager, band manager, major and small festival and event producer, booking agent, tour manager, marketing and social media director, graphic artist, website builder and music industry educator. Outside of the music world, she's worked as a professional photographer (newspapers, weddings, portraits, events, live music), writer, cook, horse-and-cart driver, English teacher, blogger and university tutor. In 2019, bored again after a 5 year stint running her own online music industry professional development education platform, she started studying a Bachelor of Health Science degree at the University of Queensland, majoring in Nutrition and Public Health. Now on the wrong (best?) side of 50, she has - for the first time ever - settled quite comfortably in the same house and city for over 6 years and absolutely loving being immersed in study.

Links & where to find her here:

Medium

Clubhouse: @martinecotton