Resorting
to
daring and unusual methods ,
Bowditch played a key
part in extraordinary events which received extensive overseas coverage, challenged the White Australia policy , police , other authorities and he was closely watched by ASIO.
In
l955 he had become
acutely aware of the plight
of Malays employed
as low paid indentured labour in the
pearling industry . One of them was of particular interest , Ali bin Salleh, who had been with him during the highly dangerous pre-invasion commando operation on Tarakan . They had paddled ashore in a canoe , Bowditch evaded thousands of Japanese , mutilated a guard along the way , an act which would play on his mind , and discovered the position of hidden guns which could blast invading naval vessels.
After
being demobbed, Ali returned to
pearling as a diver in Territory waters . While working on the lugger
Vivienne , owned
by Darwin master
pearler Nicholas Paspaley ,
a name
now world famous
for cultured pearls , he was pulled
from the deep too fast and
suffered “the bends”. Instead of being
thrown back into the sea and staged -brought to the surface gradually- he endured
a four day boat trip to
Darwin . On arrival he was
almost dead ; after 36 hours
in Carl Atkinson’s
recompression chamber, he was saved , but crippled from the waist down .
Ali was then sent
to Adelaide where he spent
years in hospital . While
there he was put into a bath and left alone . Because he had no
feeling he did not realise that he was being scalded by
boiling water, suffering terrible
burns . Placed in a Red Cross
rehabilitation centre , he pined for the north
and the people of Darwin banded together to bring him back .
It is believed
Bowditch used his friendship with
Bob Freeden, who did PR work in Sydney for the
airline TAA , to fly Ali to Darwin. Bowditch was at the airport to welcome him home
and
TAA and the
regional manager received favourable mention in an illustrated front page report in the
NT News .
In
Darwin Ali was looked after by a well- known
couple, Sallum bin Sallik and his
wife , Biddy , who were friends
of Bowditch. Sallum had also been in Z
Special Force but
had not served with Bowditch . Mrs Sallik,
“ a Broome girl ”, an
Aboriginal-Filipino with a sense of humour, articulate and friendly
, ran a store in the former wartime camp at Winnellie . Her
husband and Ali looked so alike that they
used to say they were brothers .
An
article appeared in the NT News about
Ali with a picture showing him weaving a
basket. Bowditch was “horrified” by his
physical appearance . Lawyer Dick Ward issued a writ on Salleh’s behalf seeking
30,000 pound ($60,000) damages
from the Paspaley company . ASIO noted the court action and linked it to Bowditch , making an offensive comment about the
plaintiff who had fought
for Australia and been reduced to a cripple.
Attached to a Melbourne Age clipping about the court action a secret
report contained the following
: It looks as if Bowditch might be behind him in this. ( Blacked out )...says Ali bin Salleh would
not have the brains to take such a course without help ...
The
North Australian Workers’ Union backed
Ah Chee when he took on the pearling
company in court. Over the period , the NT News ran several stories about the
diver’s plight, one headed
“WHY CAN’T I STAY IN AUSTRALIA ? ”. At one stage the diver
went into hiding . ASIO records
show that
Bowditch and a member of the
Legislative Council , undoubtedly lawyer Dick Ward, interviewed
the Darwin Immigration Officer about the move to deport Ah Chee. One
report claimed that Ah Chee , in a statement he made before being deported, said
Bowditch “had exerted influence
”on him . Furthermore, Ah Chee said he
had been “ hidden ” in the
NT News Office
and at the “ Bowditch residence”
before being found . The weeping diver was
deported in June . NEXT : The epic Stayput Malays battle.
