James Martin (South Australian politician)

James Martin (1821 – 27 December 1899) was an industrialist and politician in the early days of the Colony of South Australia.

James Martin was born in the town of Foundry, in the parish of Stithians, Cornwall, in straitened circumstances, the seventh child of a woman whose husband had died a few months previously. He had little schooling, and after starting to earn his own money, he enrolled in night classes. He worked at the local factory making steel shovels, as a millwright in Truro's flour mills, and as a fitter in the Tresavean copper mine, where he was involved in the installation of a large mine pump and a prototype of Michael Loam's "man engine", all the time gaining practical engineering knowledge. He served as a maintenance worker at a woollens factory at Ponsanooth, where an older brother was manager.

He suffered from asthma, which was exacerbated by Cornwall's climate and the atmosphere of these workplaces, and decided for his health's sake to try his luck in South Australia, and emigrated on La Belle Alliance, arriving in July 1847. He found work at Hindmarsh with John Ridley, and erecting a flour mill. Determined to work for himself, he moved to Gawler on 15 June 1848, a fact that was celebrated there exactly 50 years later. Although then a tiny village, Gawler seemed a likely spot for development as a waypoint between Adelaide and the mines of Burra, the farms of the Barossa Valley, the River Murray and the incipient wheatfields of the Lower North.

He rented a blacksmith's shop from John Calton and began building bullock drays. He built a lathe, press and workbenches from local timber. With hard work, attention to detail, and by accepting any job, business grew. He started working on a farm of his own, "Trevue", where he developed implements that were manufactured by his "Phoenix Foundry" (founded around 1859). Martin & Co. became a major employer in the town. He took on Thomas Flett Loutit (ca.1832 – 20 September 1873) as a partner. It has been claimed that the first stump-jump plough was made by Martin & Co. Their machinery was successfully exhibited at the various Agricultural Shows. They manufactured iron from local ore, but the experiment was not a resounding success.

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