Mary Martin Bookshop, a history…

Who is Mary Martin? This is a question we are often asked, with an answer that leads to a truly remarkable woman.

Mary Maydwell Martin was born in Norwood, Adelaide on July 20, 1915. She was eldest of four children, from a family who were an eclectic mix – engineers, winemakers, chemists. Mary, however, was drawn to the arts and humanities. After eight years of study at The University of Adelaide, during which time she immersed herself among the literary and art scenes of the city, she embarked on a new business – a bookshop.

It was 1945 when she first rented a room in the Brookman Building in Adelaide. Mary Martin Bookshop became known for mail orders, bargain books, and a big collection of art books and artwork. Readers were also drawn to the woman described as a ‘little wren’, who would serve tea and coffee to her customers, encouraging them to browse and make her shop their second home. The bookshop became a hot-spot for students, creatives and intellectuals.

A year after opening, Mary invited a friend to join the business. Max Harris AO was a poet and the publisher of the Angry Penguins journal – and a central (if unwilling) figure in one of Australia’s most infamous literary hoaxes. He was also one of Mary’s closest friends and she was ‘known to steer him through the streets while he walked about reading books.’

Just like the original Mary Martin herself, we are independent and passionate about literature…

With Harris on board, the bookshop expanded. But while the store grew, moving to bigger premises, Mary discovered another passion.

In 1947, a dancer called Ananda Shivaram brought Indian dance to Australia and changed Mary’s life. Inspired by Shivaram’s dance company – which performed Kathakali, a form of classical Indian dance influenced by the tales of the Hindu epics and the Puranas – Mary became a passionate student of Indian culture. Mary made increasingly frequent trips to India, often finding items to sell in the shop (art, gifts, even tea). Then, in 1962, she decided to move to India permanently and sold her interests in the bookshop to Max and his wife Yvonne.

Mary spent the rest of her life in India, living first in Bombay (now Mumbai), before moving to Bangalore where she set up a mail-order book business. In 1965, Mary moved to Kotagiri in the Nilgiri Hills, where she found a new cause, the Nilgiris Adivasi Welfare Association (NAWA). However, her health had begun to deteriorate and Mary passed away on January 25, 1973 at 57 years of age.