David Mattiske - Reason for wanting to join the Navy

Transcript

I was fascinated by stories of the sea and how Great Britain had commanded the sea for many centuries, virtually. I read the stories of Drake and the Spanish Armada, Drake's expeditions to what is now Mexico, Gulliver's Travels, all that sort of thing so fascinated me.

There was another book I can remember, The Swiss Family Robinson. I'm not too sure where the Swiss family came in, but that was a fascinating story.

And at the primary school where I attended first at Murtoa, there was a big painting obviously taken from a village, a fishing village in England, and there was an old man, who was obviously retired, pointing at the sea. That's where his life had been, eh? And all these things fascinated me, and so I wanted to travel and be part of the Navy. And I joined the Navy.