Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now launching the Mark Mottlop story Mark Motlop His Life
and Times. It's been launched tomorrow at the Bookshop Darwin.
Sports journalist Gray Morris has written the book about Motlop,
the first NT footballer to play three hundred games, and
Gray joins me in the studio. Good morning to your mate.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning Katie on this warm Tuesday morning.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
It is very warm out there.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Gray, I reckon I interviewed you three years ago when
you're retired, but you can't keep a good man down.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
You're back into it. You're writing a book.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Actually it was four years ago.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Four years ago.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yes, I've been a retired gentleman since. But gets a
bit boring sometimes when you're retired. I mean there's so
much golf you can play in so many other things.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Well, when you've been living a life that is like
sports journalism every single day, it's hard to switch off
from that older magic.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well it was twenty seven years old. Was at the
inteen years Every day, you know, you wanted a story
for the back page or the inside pages. So it
was a busy time.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
It would have been a very busy time. But now
you've been busy writing a book. On the wonderful Mark Motlop,
his life and times. Tell me how you got into this.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, Mark had been into me for a while to
write a book, probably five or six years ago. He
first said to me Gray, I want you to write
a book about myself and the family and growing up
in Darwen, etc. Etc. I thought about it. I knew
it'd take a bit of work, and I've never written
a book yep. So I sat down one day with
him and started taking notes. And that was about two
(01:37):
and a half three years ago, so it took a while, yeah,
to get out, but it's out now, so hopefully the
Darwin sporting and general public will buy plenty of copies.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Well, he's a very well known man and very well
you know, he and his family so well known as
being sporting icons.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Right, yeah they are. I mean his dad came to
dar On in the fifties from up in North Queensland
somewhere and he was a rugby league man. But the
Motlop brothers, four of them, were in doctrinated into Argy
rules because their house is only a short distance from
nightcliff Ovill. Yeah right, so Augie rules became their folklore.
(02:16):
And yeah, Mark tells some intriguing stories about what it
was like in Darwin in the sixties. And you know
when he was a lad hiding in caves on in cliffs,
when the tide came in and went out again and
all that type of thing and hunting comeing. One thing
the Motlop and a lot of Darwin families do is
hunt hunters. They hunt for fish, they hunt for buffalo,
(02:39):
they hunt for goose. Just goes on. It's an intriguing story.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, tell us, you know, he's there's some aspects of
it that people might sort of be quite.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Surprised by, or you know, some stories.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I would imagine quite a few bits and pieces that
people have never heard before.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
And of course he was here doing when that big
wind hit darn Re seventy four.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
They're in the house in Nightcliffe and the house has
actually it had a rip right around and that nadle. Afterwards,
of course all the neighbors came and stayed in their
house thinking it was a safe house and it was,
but only just it was a terrifying time. Sideline Tracy.
That was one instance that he recalled with you know,
with a haunting memory. I guess you could say and
(03:23):
as I said, all the hunting that went on, and
his dad worked on the roads up here in the
northern Turty, the old BF roads that they built to
the east and west of Darwin, and his mum was
it was a local Lorna John's. So once the twain
shall meet and they end up having six kids, and
(03:45):
of course from then, you know, quite a few of
those lads have ended up playing in the AFL.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So what an incredible legacy, you know, Yeah, how wonderful.
And now in terms of you know why this is
such an important story to.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Tell, Greg, why did you you know, why did you think?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Do you know what?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I'm coming out of retirement and I'm going to write
this book.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, Well, as I said, there would loss to write
about with Mark, Yeah, you know, and as you said,
he's a very well known figure in Darwin. And so
hopefully this will this will start a whole sequence of
events because I expect to get calls now from the Maclean's,
the Reales, the Dumbings, the Bonson's, the ah Mats.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
You reckon you might be writing a few more books.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
There's a lot of terrific sporting families.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Really is, isn't There and I mean over the twenty
seven years that you've worked as a sports journalist in
the Northern Territory, you must have you know, you've you
would have told some incredible stories and you would have
seen some incredible things happen in sport.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, that's right. Sport brings everyone as one. You know,
you can be living out there and all of a
sudden emerge. It's a terrific and Australian Football or Ozzie
Rules in particular, is a huge board up here. I mean,
I know the Rugby League people will probably say at
the opposite and you're one of them, I.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Love all sport.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I'm probably like you Gray where I go, I love
all sport and I really respect the fact that here
in the Northern Territory that AFL is so popular.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, that's right. And Mark, of course, with his Ozzie
Rules expanded, he went down to Adelaide to play in
the NFL, he went west to Perth to play with
South Fremantle and and Saturday's brothers. So you know it
was just just a huge thing for Darwin.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, absolutely so great. The book is being launched tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Eleven o'clock in the morning. Yes, I hope some you know,
I hope the fans can get there and have you
listened and buy some books eleven o'clock in the morning
at the bookshop in the Morley.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
And so you'll be there. Is Mark going to be
there as well?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Mich will definitely be there.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Well, I've got to sign copy from you, but I
feel like I need Mark to sign it as well.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I'm going to be on air. I'll have to try
and do that at some point.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
You know, you definitely need Mark to get involved there
and get him to put his signature on there. And yeah,
as someone said, this is the first of many books, Gray, And.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
How are you feeling about it?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I really have to have a think about it. But
I think, well, once I'm refreshed and renewed and ready
to go again, yeah, there will be more, mate.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I'm fascinated, like from a real journalistic perspective, and this
may not interest our listeners as much, but for me
as a journal you know, we're so used to writing
in sort of short, punchy format, you know, me for broadcast, youth,
for newspapers. What's it like then for you as a
journalist who's written that way for such a long period
of time, then writing in that longer form and getting
(06:45):
all those thoughts down on paper.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah. Well, it's not all the one story, Katie. You know.
You start with the beginning, then you move on to
his sporting career, then living in Darling, then hunting. Yeah,
and then he's he's sort of you know, it just
goes on, right. It's all different stories anyway. And some
days you get out of bed and you think, oh, beauty,
I'm going to write a lot today, And other days
(07:08):
I think I might have.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
A day off. The brain doesn't always work.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But it does take a lot of work, and anyone
out there thinking about writing a book, they'll have to
sit down and think how much time it takes and
how much thought goes into the old brain too.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Absolutely, but I know.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It was an enjoyable time with Mike. Mike was very good.
Of course, it was hard to get a time because
I think his job takes him out of the Northern
territory fair bit, and so a lot of the interviewing
were done on the phone.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Now someone's just messaged through and said, please ask if
there is a secret.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Now, I hope I pronounced this correctly. Black charm?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Is that how you say it, it's the recipe in
Mark's story. Yum oh, says that person. It's I think
it's a very territory dish. I'm sure sure I've pronounced
it incorrectly, but I'm guessing there's no recipe in there.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Great, but that's that's why I'm giving you a confused. Look,
we didn't go that far into a recipe, but maybe
in book two we will.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Well, he must buy the sounds of it.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
It's someone who's friends with him and obviously knows that
he does it well, So I.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Can tell you that that there was a lot of
talk about mud crabs and goose and so, yeah, he's
he's a man of the world, is Mark Butler?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, in a proper territory, you know, like that's a
proper territory upraising, isn't it. You know, all the hunting
and and you know, and fishing and all that kind
of thing. That's what my son gets up to on
the weekends.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
And I made sure that I put a lot of
indigenous culture into the book as well, Kate, because because
he was born here yep, and and so he found
the extended family. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Absolutely, Well, Gray Morris always a pleasure catching up with
you mate. Thank you so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
No, and thank you for you and your station for
doing something on the book. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Sorry, So tomorrow eleven o'clock you said, didn't you? Eleven
o'clock at the bookshop Darwin in the mall, So be there.
It'll be a fantastic event. Good on your great thank.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
You Be there or be squeat.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, absolutely
Now launching the Mark Mottlop story Mark Motlop His Life
and Times. It's been launched tomorrow at the Bookshop Darwin.
Sports journalist Gray Morris has written the book about Motlop,
the first NT footballer to play three hundred games, and
Gray joins me in the studio. Good morning to your mate.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning Katie on this warm Tuesday morning.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
It is very warm out there.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Gray, I reckon I interviewed you three years ago when
you're retired, but you can't keep a good man down.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
You're back into it. You're writing a book.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Actually it was four years ago.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Four years ago.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yes, I've been a retired gentleman since. But gets a
bit boring sometimes when you're retired. I mean there's so
much golf you can play in so many other things.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Well, when you've been living a life that is like
sports journalism every single day, it's hard to switch off
from that older magic.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well it was twenty seven years old. Was at the
inteen years Every day, you know, you wanted a story
for the back page or the inside pages. So it
was a busy time.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
It would have been a very busy time. But now
you've been busy writing a book. On the wonderful Mark Motlop,
his life and times. Tell me how you got into this.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, Mark had been into me for a while to
write a book, probably five or six years ago. He
first said to me Gray, I want you to write
a book about myself and the family and growing up
in Darwen, etc. Etc. I thought about it. I knew
it'd take a bit of work, and I've never written
a book yep. So I sat down one day with
him and started taking notes. And that was about two
(01:37):
and a half three years ago, so it took a while, yeah,
to get out, but it's out now, so hopefully the
Darwin sporting and general public will buy plenty of copies.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Well, he's a very well known man and very well
you know, he and his family so well known as
being sporting icons.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Right, yeah they are. I mean his dad came to
dar On in the fifties from up in North Queensland
somewhere and he was a rugby league man. But the
Motlop brothers, four of them, were in doctrinated into Argy
rules because their house is only a short distance from
nightcliff Ovill. Yeah right, so Augie rules became their folklore.
(02:16):
And yeah, Mark tells some intriguing stories about what it
was like in Darwin in the sixties. And you know
when he was a lad hiding in caves on in cliffs,
when the tide came in and went out again and
all that type of thing and hunting comeing. One thing
the Motlop and a lot of Darwin families do is
hunt hunters. They hunt for fish, they hunt for buffalo,
(02:39):
they hunt for goose. Just goes on. It's an intriguing story.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, tell us, you know, he's there's some aspects of
it that people might sort of be quite.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Surprised by, or you know, some stories.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I would imagine quite a few bits and pieces that
people have never heard before.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
And of course he was here doing when that big
wind hit darn Re seventy four.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
They're in the house in Nightcliffe and the house has
actually it had a rip right around and that nadle. Afterwards,
of course all the neighbors came and stayed in their
house thinking it was a safe house and it was,
but only just it was a terrifying time. Sideline Tracy.
That was one instance that he recalled with you know,
with a haunting memory. I guess you could say and
(03:23):
as I said, all the hunting that went on, and
his dad worked on the roads up here in the
northern Turty, the old BF roads that they built to
the east and west of Darwin, and his mum was
it was a local Lorna John's. So once the twain
shall meet and they end up having six kids, and
(03:45):
of course from then, you know, quite a few of
those lads have ended up playing in the AFL.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So what an incredible legacy, you know, Yeah, how wonderful.
And now in terms of you know why this is
such an important story to.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Tell, Greg, why did you you know, why did you think?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Do you know what?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I'm coming out of retirement and I'm going to write
this book.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, Well, as I said, there would loss to write
about with Mark, Yeah, you know, and as you said,
he's a very well known figure in Darwin. And so
hopefully this will this will start a whole sequence of
events because I expect to get calls now from the Maclean's,
the Reales, the Dumbings, the Bonson's, the ah Mats.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
You reckon you might be writing a few more books.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
There's a lot of terrific sporting families.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Really is, isn't There and I mean over the twenty
seven years that you've worked as a sports journalist in
the Northern Territory, you must have you know, you've you
would have told some incredible stories and you would have
seen some incredible things happen in sport.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, that's right. Sport brings everyone as one. You know,
you can be living out there and all of a
sudden emerge. It's a terrific and Australian Football or Ozzie
Rules in particular, is a huge board up here. I mean,
I know the Rugby League people will probably say at
the opposite and you're one of them, I.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Love all sport.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I'm probably like you Gray where I go, I love
all sport and I really respect the fact that here
in the Northern Territory that AFL is so popular.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, that's right. And Mark, of course, with his Ozzie
Rules expanded, he went down to Adelaide to play in
the NFL, he went west to Perth to play with
South Fremantle and and Saturday's brothers. So you know it
was just just a huge thing for Darwin.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, absolutely so great. The book is being launched tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Eleven o'clock in the morning. Yes, I hope some you know,
I hope the fans can get there and have you
listened and buy some books eleven o'clock in the morning
at the bookshop in the Morley.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
And so you'll be there. Is Mark going to be
there as well?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Mich will definitely be there.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Well, I've got to sign copy from you, but I
feel like I need Mark to sign it as well.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I'm going to be on air. I'll have to try
and do that at some point.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
You know, you definitely need Mark to get involved there
and get him to put his signature on there. And yeah,
as someone said, this is the first of many books, Gray, And.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
How are you feeling about it?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I really have to have a think about it. But
I think, well, once I'm refreshed and renewed and ready
to go again, yeah, there will be more, mate.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I'm fascinated, like from a real journalistic perspective, and this
may not interest our listeners as much, but for me
as a journal you know, we're so used to writing
in sort of short, punchy format, you know, me for broadcast, youth,
for newspapers. What's it like then for you as a
journalist who's written that way for such a long period
of time, then writing in that longer form and getting
(06:45):
all those thoughts down on paper.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah. Well, it's not all the one story, Katie. You know.
You start with the beginning, then you move on to
his sporting career, then living in Darling, then hunting. Yeah,
and then he's he's sort of you know, it just
goes on, right. It's all different stories anyway. And some
days you get out of bed and you think, oh, beauty,
I'm going to write a lot today, And other days
(07:08):
I think I might have.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
A day off. The brain doesn't always work.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But it does take a lot of work, and anyone
out there thinking about writing a book, they'll have to
sit down and think how much time it takes and
how much thought goes into the old brain too.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Absolutely, but I know.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It was an enjoyable time with Mike. Mike was very good.
Of course, it was hard to get a time because
I think his job takes him out of the Northern
territory fair bit, and so a lot of the interviewing
were done on the phone.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Now someone's just messaged through and said, please ask if
there is a secret.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Now, I hope I pronounced this correctly. Black charm?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Is that how you say it, it's the recipe in
Mark's story. Yum oh, says that person. It's I think
it's a very territory dish. I'm sure sure I've pronounced
it incorrectly, but I'm guessing there's no recipe in there.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Great, but that's that's why I'm giving you a confused. Look,
we didn't go that far into a recipe, but maybe
in book two we will.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Well, he must buy the sounds of it.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
It's someone who's friends with him and obviously knows that
he does it well, So I.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Can tell you that that there was a lot of
talk about mud crabs and goose and so, yeah, he's
he's a man of the world, is Mark Butler?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, in a proper territory, you know, like that's a
proper territory upraising, isn't it. You know, all the hunting
and and you know, and fishing and all that kind
of thing. That's what my son gets up to on
the weekends.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
And I made sure that I put a lot of
indigenous culture into the book as well, Kate, because because
he was born here yep, and and so he found
the extended family. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Absolutely, Well, Gray Morris always a pleasure catching up with
you mate. Thank you so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
No, and thank you for you and your station for
doing something on the book. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Sorry, So tomorrow eleven o'clock you said, didn't you? Eleven
o'clock at the bookshop Darwin in the mall, So be there.
It'll be a fantastic event. Good on your great thank.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
You Be there or be squeat.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, absolutely
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.