Mart Crime

The Great Tuck Robbery: Pens, books, tuck, day scholar's lunch, pocket money, keds, jangs etc were normal losses suffered in a boys' school. The Mart word for small time thieves, was 'chut' from the Hindi word chutta. I guess it didn't sound as disparaging as thief. The next heist after the gong was the one committed on the morning of the fete that year (?). Mr Tuck's desk that was bursting at its seems with tin stuff, bottled jam etc all for the fete, was cleaned out. I still remember early that morning I was woken by a voice asking me whether the brown keds in the house room were mine. When I said yes, the voice from the dark said 'if anyone asks you say they are mine'. Later there was a stampede with searches of lockers in the hope of recovering the loot. No one was caught! I was never asked about the brown keds. It was the perfect theft! I never asked the owner of the voice anything because I knew he would have said: Are you f------ mad?

Melbourne Martinians

August 6, 2011.

Neville Baker and wife, Colleen and William Lyons, Stephen Quieros and
wife, Robert Jordan and partner (back), Marvin Bunting and wife (front),
Peter Quieros and wife and Gordon Bruce and partner during a
get-together in Melbourne.
Six out of the seven 'boys' are Martinians.
Photo: Courtesy Stephen Quieros