Jim had a major part in its production of the paper which ran local news. It was produced on and off for several years and Jim , the chief reporter , did everything with a flourish. Sister Mary remembered Jim and Peter “ sniggering ” over a story . It had been her task to keep the boys supplied with cups of tea when they were working on the paper . The youngest brother, David, usually in Mary’s care , was frequently “crying” for some reason while the paper was being made up.
Jim’s first interest in Australia began when a suntanned man addressed the scouts about “the colonies ”-Australia, New Zealand and Canada . He painted a glowing picture of open space, adventure and opportunity -a vision which entranced Jim.
With the arrival of the Depression, life became harder for the Bowditch family. When his mother was short of money, often because of his father’s failure to pay bills , she was able to obtain help from her father. It was grandfather Manning who paid for the education of the boys . Sister Mary said Captain Bowditch squandered everything , he being a “ gay blade ” who preferred being out with his wartime pals and others , drinking and smoking. Gay had a different meaning in those days .
However when the economic crash came their life underwent a drastic change. Captain Bowditch kept his job, but had to take a cut in pay. Grandfather Manning also felt the pinch. The Bowditch family was forced to move from their comforable house to a small council dwelling at Lee, about seven miles south- east of London, and their lifestyle changed dramatically .
Jim’s mother, although named Edith Mary, was mostly called “Tina ” and actively supported St.Margaret’s Anglican Church, Lee . As she strode purposefully up the path to the church with her four sons, the vicar often said , “Here is Tina with her disciples. ” Young Jim , with a mop of golden curls, and brother Peter, who had platignum locks , looked angelic , and both served as choir boys.
Jim attended the Lee County Council School and Colfe’s Grammar School where at the latter he had his own gang, Boadicea’s. His gang attained what could be called official approval. The headmaster became annoyed by the schoolboy prank of “flying ”- ripping fly buttons out of pants with a quick movement of the hand . He called in Jim to combat the trouble.
Jim described the event thus: “The headmaster asked me to see him one day and we had a long conversation about my gang. He was not concerned about the gang fighting with other kids. The headmaster discussed an episode in which my gang had beaten up a gigantic lad called Gas. Believe it or not , Gas had a friend, Kettle, and they were fairly repulsive lads. Gas had consistently bullied the Divinity teacher. I , personally, would not have been able to handle Gas, but I got the gang together and we beat him up. The headmaster said he had received a lot of complaints from parents and pupils about flying. He asked if I would take up the role of being the flying vigilante . It appealed to my ego , so I spoke to the lads and they thought it would be a good laugh . We just passed the word around flying was out and thumped anybody who broke the edict. After a little while, the flying epidemic was broken by the Boadicea Gang .”
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* At the above 1993 launch of Jim Bowditch’s book, Whispers from the North -Tales of the Northern Territory , former Northern Territory News photographer, the late Joe Karlhuber,is shown with the author.The book, published by the NT University Press , regrettably, was not an autobiography;while the cover illustration by Tony Dean was well drawn ,as were his other drawings , it gave the unfortunate impression that Bowditch was a campfire spinner of yarns, which he certainly was not. Karlhuber, seen here having lost an arm, had pioneered the primitive photographic section in the early tin bank days of the NT News. It dismayed him when he discovered that the News dumped the old photographic files when it moved to the Mitchell Street site in 1967. Photo by Barry Ledwidge
