Jim Bowditch, photo taken by ABC TV

James "Jim" Bowditch, (1919–1996) was an Australian newspaper editor who worked for the Centralian Advocate (1950–1954) and he Northern Territory News (1954– 1973). During his editorial career he campaigned for Aboriginal rights and a better deal for the Northern Territory from Canberra.[1]

Early Life

Bowditch was born in London as a part of a working class family and one of five children. He left school at the age of 14 to support his family through the Great Depression and, soon after, at the age of 17 worked his passage to Australia on Port Dunedin in order to fulfil his childhood dream of becoming a farmer.[1]

One in Australia he worked on a number of farms in New South Wales and Queensland, before moving to Wellington, New South Wales to search for gold. This venture was unsuccessful and he was soon forced to apply for a travelling dole scheme which required him to move from town-to-town in order to receive benefits.

At the outbreak of World War II he joined the Australian Army and served in North Africa and New Guinea (as a part of the Second Ninth Infantry Battalion) before joining the special sabotage and spy unit; this was known as the ‘Z’ Special Force. His experience within this unit won him a Distinguished Conduct Medal and a number of citations for bravery. His second wife Betty Bowditch would later state that her husband "did not talk about the war, but would stay up late, at times drinking while battling his war demons".[2]

After the war Jim took on a number of roles, including as a door-to-door salesman and lighthouse keeper in Moreton Island.[1]

Life in the Northern Territory

In 1948, Bowditch moved to Alice Springs and, once there, he planned to take up land under the government’s soldiers’ settlement scheme which never eventuated.

Soon however, while working as a public servant (as a paymaster for the Department of Works and Housing), he started writing articles for The Centralian Advocate and also for a number of ‘southern’ papers. He also became very much a part of life in the town, which then had a population of 2000, where he took part in cricket, amateur theatricals, debating, politics, union affairs and chess competitions. He also became secretary of the Alice Springs section of the South Australian branch of the Federated Clerks’ Union and wrote for its newspaper, The Clerk, under the byline "Doop the Snoop".[3]

Because of his political and union involvement, Bowditch soon came under the scrutiny of Australian Security Intelligence Organisation as a possible communist and this investigation, in part, broke up his marriage with his first wife Iris.

Despite this, he so impressed the manager of the Centralian Advocate that, despite his lack of experience, he was made its editor in 1950;[4] he took over from Alan Wauchope.[5] When taking this position he was not even able to type and taught himself via a three fingered method which became a trademark of his.[1] As editor he fought for the recognition of “part-Aboriginal” people as citizens, he later realised his mistake of not including all Aboriginal people in this goal, and raised concerns about police corruption that led to threats of violence being made towards him.  

He was 'promoted' to a posting in Darwin, at the NT News, after a funny game of his – in which he published a doctored image to show a UFO sighting was published as an April Fools' Day joke.[6] The image was created using a photo of a household cup saucer, hanging by a piece of cotton from a tree, with a view of Mount Gillen and, at the time, he claimed that the image had been slipped under his front door.[5] This resulted in international headlines and official investigation by the Royal Australian Air Force. This would become a long-running tradition for the paper.[7] He moved to Darwin with his new wife Betty, an Aboriginal women, he had met and fell in love with in Alice Springs. He was a staunch defender of interracial relationships at a time that they were heavily policed in Alice Springs.[5]

In Darwin Jim continued to be an advocate for social justice, ‘rattle chains’ and become a subject of the news himself. Soon circulation almost doubled and, in 1959, he won a Walkley Award for ‘Best Provincial Newspaper Story’ for his report of the search and rescue mission for the luxury yacht the Sea Fox which included a chain-smoking chimp called “Jimmy the Chimp” as a crew member.[8]  

Bowditch’s time at the NT News ended abruptly in 1972 after an editorial of his, about the death of the NT’s richest man Michael Paspalis, was pulled and a new editor appointed. This was due, in large part, to his failure to follow the conservative editorial policy of the NT News after it was purchased by Rupert Murdoch in 1964. This led to a two week strike by staff and an industrial arbitration hearing.

In 1980 Bowditch began working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a reporter for 'Territory Tracks' and contributed to the Darwin 'Advertiser' and 'Star' newspapers. After these newspapers closed in the late-1980s he would once again contribute to the NT News where he wrote feature articles on NT personalities. In the 1980s he also helped mobalise support for an enquiry into the conviction of Lindy Chamberlain. He retired from journalism in 1988.[1]

In 1993 Bowditch published a book, illustrated by Tony Dean, called Whispers from the North: tales of the Northern Territory.[9]

He passed away in Darwin in 1996 and is buried at Thorak Regional Cemetery.[10]

Works about

Powell, A. (2018). Sergeant James “Jim” Bowditch - a memory of World War 2. Northern Territory Historical Studies, (29), 80–83.[11]

Legacy

Bowdich was inducted into the Journalism Hall of Fame in 2018.[12]

Bowditch Street in Muirhead is named for him.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Carment, David Edward. "Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography". Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "Behind enemy lines: The hidden stories of Australia's Z Force". ABC News. 1 April 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Club, Melbourne Press. "Jim Bowditch". MPC - Hall Of Fame. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  4. ↑ james, barbara;davis. "Historical introduction to Northern Territory newspapers". Historical introduction to Northern Territory newspapers. Retrieved 22 November 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 3 "A bloke names Jim: last of Australia's crusading editors". Centralian Advocate. 23 May 2017.
  6. ↑ ""Unknown" Claims Snapped Flying Saucer Over Alice". Centralian Advocate. Vol. VII, no. 348. Northern Territory, Australia. 5 February 1954. p. 1. Retrieved 22 November 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ Griffen-Foley, Bridget; Griffen-Foley, Bridget; ProQuest (Firm) (2014), A Companion to the Australian Media, Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty, Limited, ISBN 978-1-922454-32-4
  8. ↑ Cyclops (24 January 2014). "Little Darwin: The Incredible Sea Fox Saga – Continuing biog of Crusading Editor, "Big Jim" Bowditch". Little Darwin. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  9. ↑ Bowditch, Jim; Dean, Tony (Anthony) (1993), Whispers from the North, NTU Press, ISBN 978-0-949070-31-9
  10. 1 2 "Place Names Register". www.ntlis.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  11. ↑ Powell, Alan (2018). "Sergeant James 'Jim' Bowditch - a memory of World War 2". Northern Territory Historical Studies (29): 80–83 – via Informit.
  12. ↑ Banks, Kieran (17 November 2018). "Legendary NT News editor Jim Bowditch inducted into journalism hall of fame". NT News. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
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