SMUGGLED URANIUM , INSIDE TOP SECRET WOOMERA , PUNCHY FRANK PACKER-Continuing biog of NT Crusading Editor , "Big Jim" Bowditch

With bullet holes from WW11 which made it leak during the Wet, this was the old Tin Bank premises  of  the NT News  in  which Bowditch became a  renowned , fearless editor.

 

After  all the farewell  parties in Darwin , Kiwi journalist  Ross  Annabell  eventually  mounted  his  trusty BSA Bantam motorbike and set out for   Sydney, gathering  stories  along the way , intending to  take  a  ship home. It proved to be an  exciting  trip. Included  in his souvenirs  of  the Top End   was  a  sample of  Rum Jungle  uranium oxide, yellowcake,   packed in the suitcase on the carrying frame over the  rear wheel. The  yellowcake had  been given to  him when he  exposed the  primitive conditions for workers at Rum Jungle, where  security was supposed to be  strict to  prevent uranium  from  being  stolen .   

 When Annabel arrived  in Alice Springs, he thought about putting  his  motorbike on the train  to Adelaide , but  learned  two trucks  were travelling in  convoy, which would   offer   cheaper  transport and  another story  .   One of the trucks  had  a load  of Marsden  Matting,  flat  metal strips used  in the making  of  wartime airstrips in the Top End  . Torrential  rain began to fall soon after the   trucks left Alice  and the  unsealed   road  became a quagmire.  The Marsden Matting   was  placed over  mud  to enable the  vehicles to get  through  bad stretches. Conditions became  increasing worse   as   the rain  bucketed down . The man in charge of the trucks had   an uncle who was   a South Australian   politician and  rang  him  from  a  small town  along  the way  to see if he  could  arrange emergency  permission  for the vehicles to drive through  the  top secret  Woomera   rocket  range .

When told that there was a  Darwin  journalist  passenger  in one of the trucks, the  MP  said there was no way  a  reporter would be allowed into  the   base. It was decided that  Ross  would be described  as  the  truckdriver’s son , as  his daughter  was  travelling   in  the  group.  After  getting  lost, the trucks  arrived at  Woomera  about midnight and were  escorted at gunpoint by   security police to  a  big hangar where  scientists  were  working on  Jindivik  pilotless  planes.

Then they were directed  to the  township and out through a security gate and told  to return in the morning for an identity  check . Knowing he  had  yellowcake in his luggage, Ross refused to return to Woomera  in case he was “ lumbered ” , and  hid under a bridge  while the others  went  back  in the base.  The  three who returned  were  asked  to provide the name and address of three  people who could identity  them. Nobody  noticed that a fourth  person  was missing.               

 

Arriving in  Sydney,  Annabell made it through Customs  with his yellowcake  and took it to  his parents'  home  in NZ  . While about to write an article  saying how  bad  Australian security was  because   he had  “smuggled” uranium out of  Rum Jungle ,  he received  a  telegram  from his  syndicate  partners  in Darwin   that there  was strong interest in their  uranium  prospect.  After  hiding  the yellowcake  in the woodshed rafters , he   hot-footed  it  back to the Territory,  hoping at  long last to  make his fortune .  On his return to Darwin ,  he became aware of  some  disturbing  information : there  was a  $50,000  fine for smuggling  uranium and  a lengthy jail sentence  as well. 

AUTHOR  AND  MEDIA  BOSS  BECOME  INVOLVED
 

The  news  about  negotiations   for the  uranium  find was promising.  Entrepreneur    Al McDonald  , from Tennant  Creek , had  succeeded  in  getting a  Sydney syndicate  headed by  author Frank Clune  interested in  what  had  been  dubbed  Annamount , after Ross.  The syndicate  took samples  and had  them  analysed .  Alas,  Annamount’s  ore  was  low grade  and  the syndicate  withdrew .  It seems  Annamount  was like an iced  cake -  coated  with a thin layer of  uranium bearing  rocks.   While  in  Sydney,  McDonald  had called  on  newspaper  proprietor  Frank Packer,  whom he  knew from his   boxing days . Packer  had  also been  a boxer,  and  was  glad to see  McDonald.   Packer ordered  a  journalist to  write a  story about  McDonald  highlighting “ his ”- not Annabell’s - latest rich uranium find.  Despite the  favourable write up , McDonald could  not  get anybody else interested  in  Annamount.

 

Back to being a wage slave ,  Annabell  moved into  the Darwin residence  rented  for his  ABC friend  and syndicate member , John Crew , called Pom  because of  his nationality .  Jack Gardner, loaded  with  money from his  uranium  bonanza,  turned  up  in  a  new  Holden  pulling  a  caravan  and  asked  if  he could  park  in  the  yard for a  night.   As  usual,  Gardner  lingered longer.  He roamed the town  drinking  and  Bowditch   ran  a  story  about  him  in the  News .

Gardner  wore out  his welcome  at the  ABC  house and  Ross was  asked  to “ get rid   of  him” .  Before finally  getting  the   message to  move  on,  Gardner  offered  Ross  money  to   introduce him to his  girlfriend ,  the one who  had  been  frightened off  by  Ross's confrontation  with  the  homosexual accountant at the News .  Furthermore,  Jack  said  he would  give  Ross’s  girlfriend  a  large sum of  money if  she accompanied him on  a  free  trip to  Japan .  Much to the relief  of  many in   Darwin ,  Gardner eventually drove off  to go opal mining  at Coober  Pedy  in  South Australia .

 In  the  recent memoirs of   an  old  Central Australian pastoralist, he wrote  how  long ago  he  had  met  a person called  “ The  Hon.  John  Gardner ",  an  English remittance  man , out  at  the  isolated Granites  goldfield.   At  the  time,  Gardner  had a  battered  Chev  ute  with  a " wonky wheel" .  Years  later ,  Gardner   had  turned  up  driving  a new  Holden  after “ striking  it  rich  with  a uranium  mine”, and  asked  the  cattleman  to  accompany  him   on  a  trip  to Cambodia.  NEXT : Gardner’s   strange  sleeping  companion .