Lyn's Books

Moments at Marathon describes a chapter from Western Australian history- from the 1930’s to the end of the war. It is a coming-of-age story, a memoir, set in the Northern Wheatbelt on a farm called Marathon, near Winchester, a few miles south of Carnamah. Even the names of places have echoes of a colonial past when settlers bestowed names which remain until this present day.

During this era, Winchester supported a school, a store, railway facilities and various sporting facilities. This was typical of settlements every ten miles or so. The nearby town of Carnamah supported a hospital with two doctors and staff, three banks, various stock agents and several fuel supplies, machinery dealerships, food stores. It was a thriving metropolis.

What happened to change this now in 2022? It is called mechanization and population decline. So, someone recorded this era when farms thrived, and Lyn Bodycoat’s book Moments at Marathon describes a moment in history when life on the farm was constantly enriched through the efforts of farmers on their land. These farmers had families with social needs and so life prospered during these times when acreages were comparatively small. On the farm called Marathon, author Lyn Bodycoat describes the moments enjoyed by her ancestors.