In
the case of reporter Gene Janes ,
who arrived in Darwin only to
find himself in the middle of the newspaper strike
, he had a chequered career at the Northern
Territory News. He broke new
ground for the paper by writing a lengthy serial ,
illustrated by an artist ,
about Australia being run by an Aboriginal
government . Before the story was printed , activist,film-maker Sandra Holmes , once described by a public servant as the most dangerous woman in the Territory ,
read the text and
said it was offensive to Aborigines.
Nevertheless, it was published.
It
is fair to say that Janes
did not get along well
with the new editor , John Meeking. On one celebrated occasion, Janes, a trencherman of some repute, left a parcel of prawns in the office refrigerator and they disappeared. Angered at their disappearance , he
took up the case of the missing crustaceans
with the editor , who was not overly interested in the matter. Tracking
down purloined prawns does not usually occur in the duty
statement of editors. Becoming
angry at the lack of concern about the pilfered prawns , Jane told Meeking what he
thought about him . Then Gene chased after the departing
editor , calling him a word starting with the letter C - not crustacean - and was sacked
.
BOWDITCH BATTLES ON
This
episode rated a mention in an
opposition newspaper, The Star , in which it was said that in the good old days at the News
reporters could wrestle with
editor Bowditch and not get the
sack. Mrs Janes made a personal plea to Meeking to reinstate her husband , but it was to no avail . From then on , Bowditch and Janes , were involved in various ventures. Some years later ,Janes even compiled a large supplement on Northern Territory agriculture which was published by the NT News .
While
Bowditch was enterprising and a hard
worker , it was a battle from the
time he left the paper as editor . Much of
the lottery win went quickly as he paid off
debts and cleared $20,000
worth of bills connected with a failed tin mine venture . He had
become involved in the mine in the hope that it would provide an
income if he ever got the sack at the
News or if he decided to leave the paper. In a typical gesture, he
bought refrigerators for an oldtimers’ home out of his lottery win . In addition, other battlers , worthy causes and hangers on
shared in his
largesse.
"MAD WES" AND A BASTARD
When
Bowditch was the editor at the NT
News he had an open door policy. Anybody
could come in and speak to the editor. In the Tin Bank days
some callers by-passed
the front counter, trotted in through the side door and walked straight into the
editor’s office.
Following his departure
from the paper
close encounters with editors
diminished at the News. Agronomist and activist Robert Wesley-Smith ,
who had almost received
favoured son treatment from
Bowditch , became persona non grata . The writer of this post, Peter Simon, above, snapped in the NT News watering hole, Richard Fong Lim's Vic Hotel, had several terse exchanges with Kiwi editor John Hogan .
Wes, once described as a Don Quixote-type, dared to
challenge Hogan , about the way he ran the paper and the
handling of letters to the editor . The
angry editor, who went on to run the Townsville Bulletin, started a failed fig farm there and figured in a strange court case , reading from a
Wesley-Smith letter critical of
the way the News was run
, said Wes “must
be mad , ” and instructed reporters not to quote him in any more stories
written for the paper .
This was a shame because it had been suggested that Wes
might contribute a regular column to the paper.
Recalling the ban , which lasted
for about two years , Wes chortled , and said it had actually improved his image in some ways .
People told him that he seemed to have
matured and become less radical
because they no longer saw him quoted
in the News.
Former
NAWU vigilance officer , Bill
Donnelly, also fell out with another editor at the
News. According to the unionist,
the editor issued a directive not to allow
“ that goggle-eyed bastard , Donnelly”
on the premises.
At 82 years of age, as
vehement as ever , and
able to laugh at having been called a pop-eyed illegitimate, Donnelly
declared, “ What a great man was Jimmy
Bowditch ; there will never be another editor like him .” NEXT: Bowditch hits the headlines .
