END OF AN ERA : Continuing biography of Crusading Editor,"Big Jim" Bowditch.

 
Outside Mitchell Street News office, handy to the  Hot and  Cold , Bowditch, left, and Cowboy Bill . Photo by ace  Darwin  photographer,international ice hockey star and Vegemite Fan Club pin up , Barry Ledwidge.

The  confluence  of  many  unusual  events  ultimately led to the downfall  of Bowditch.   Briefly ,  in   October  l972 , the unfortunate  Princess  Margaret  and her husband, the trendy Lord Snowdon, came to town;  Bowditch won $40,000  in  a  lottery ; and    the richest man in Darwin - Mick Paspalis, 56,died in his sleep.  Add  to  this   the  fact  that it  was  the  build up time of  the  year  when  people  go  troppo  due to  the harsh  weather conditions ,  the  likelihood  for  something extraordinary to  happen  was  high. 

 

The cavalcade  of    events  began  with the arrival  from Western Australia of  the Royal  party .  Travelling  with the  Royals  was  a Bowditch   friend,  journalist  Jim  "Flasher" Oram,  of  the Sydney  Mirror , who, it will be  recalled ,  had  worked with Kiwi reporter  Les  Wilson in London .  Oram , son of  a clergyman ,   gained his nickname  because he had  been a notorious dropper of  the trews  at  parties, weddings , and so forth .

 

By Peter Simon

 

With a slightly withered arm , he was also know to antagonise groups of  pugnacious  young men in drinking  establishments, perhaps  by nonchalantly calling them  “poofters”,  until they  wanted to  do  him  violence .   When his taunting of  them  got to a stage where they  were about to  punch his head in, he would  brandish his withered  arm and provocatively say  something like, “That’s right- hit a crippled man . But you wouldn’t  fight my mates over there!” The infuriated men would then  turn  on  Oram’s  unsuspecting friends , while he  watched  the  confrontation  from  the  safety of some corner ,chuckling evilly   When  colleagues went drinking with Oram  they soon learned you never admitted  to being   a mate of his  if  you were being questioned by a red -faced  muscular person  who looked as if he  wanted to tear you apart limb  by  limb.

A very experienced and much travelled  scribe,  Oram  once went on  a  bender with  Brendan Behan , the Irish author  and  playwright , which began in  England.  The well- soused  duo flew to Ireland via Aer Lingus  and reeled off the plane, the locals  treating  Behan  like Irish  royalty . They headed  for  the local  bars  to take in the atmosphere  ;  Behan collapsed  and was taken  to hospital.

 

While drinking in  Sydney   pubs  after work , the reporter frequently moved about the throng  with a cigarette in his hand accidently   burning holes in people’s coats.  And when a member of the Salvation Army came into  the pub  collecting and handing out the War Cry , Oram would hurl abuse  about the Sallies  taking advantage of  drunks to  “steal  ’’   money  from them.  

His first wife was a Scandinavian  Airlines Service  hostess of whom  it was said refused to have children  by him because she did not want to unleash another  Oram on the world.  He was also  a  movie buff and hosted a  TV  show in which he introduced  the evening’s  presentation ,often a horror movie , with a  well informed commentary .

 

FLASHER   JIM   EXPOSES  THE   POPE

Interestingly, when Pope John Paul ll  was first appointed, Oram was sent to Rome  to interview  him and he subsequently wrote a book about the Pontiff  which sold  in the millions .  The Pope , no doubt ,  would have been  briefed in advance   about  Oram  and one wonders if the Vatican  informed the  Holy Father  that  this reporter  was known as “Flasher” Jim; if so, was the Pope worldy enough to know the meaning  of flasher? After the success of his  book  on the leader of the  Holy Roman Catholic Church,  Oram went to a ball  dressed as the Pope  and his companion  went as a hooker , representing the book’s  publisher who  had  not  paid  him  royalties.

 

This then was the  one and only Oram  who had travelled    from  WA  to Darwin with the  Royal  party .  Along the way the security men  got to know that  Oram  was a man to watch with  a few under his belt.     Also in the party  was   David   McNicoll,   editor in chief of  Australian Consolidated Press , also known as  David D. McBluerinse  because of his hair ,  with whom  Oram had terse words one evening.  Naturally, Oram  made  contact with  Bowditch  when he  lobbed in Darwin

 

The Royal party  stayed  at   Government House   , Snowdon got about in  comfortable  tropical gear which included   white trousers  with  an eye catching  pocket  near the knee.  As if   having the  Royals  in town  was  not excitement    enough, Bowditch won  $40,000  in the Queensland Golden Casket  lottery . First  news of the lottery  win  was conveyed  over the  telephone to  the  Bowditch  residence. Young   Steven  Bowditch took the call,  received the message -then went out to play,  and  promptly forgot  what he had  been  told.

 LOST  WINNING  LOTTERY  TICKET

Betty  Bowditch was  working at the squash centre when  the news was phoned through that  Jim had won the lottery. She responded  with joy  and said   now they could  pay  off   all their  bills.  At home that afternoon, Jim   was so elated  with his win  , he  invited two linesmen working outside his house  to come in for a drink, which they did .  Because of his win, Bowditch  took the  night  off from the  newspaper   to   celebrate. The True North column in the NT News  next morning  led with an  item  about  his lottery win, stating  Jim had  recently been  heard  say  if  he  had $20,000  he would “be off”.

  

The only problem about the  windfall  was   that  he could not  find  his winning ticket.  He used to buy tickets, shove them in his pocket and , if they survived the day, throw them into a drawer next to the  bed.  When he ransacked the drawer, there were  plenty of old tickets, but not the vital winning one. 

 

The morning after the lottery  win,  Paspalis died  in his sleep .   At   a  garden party  held in the grounds of Government House, and attended by  Oram,  a colourful band of worthy citizens mingled  with the Royals.  Not far away, at the War Memorial,  and watched by police, a group of people  campaigning for  land rights displayed  banners.  One  read LAND  BEFORE  GONGS .  Lord Snowdon asked reporters what  the sign meant.  He was told of a  recent event   when the  Administrator, Fred Chaney, had flown to  Goulburn  Island to present a medal to  Rev . Lazarus Lamilami  only to find the  islanders  had  boycotted the ceremony  as they were    more interested in land rights.  When told this, Lord  Snowdon  smiled , uttered: “Oh.”

 

Earlier in the day,   Sandra   Holmes , in a protest  at the authorities not including Aboriginal artist Yirawala, O.B.E.,   in the list to meet the Royals ,  displayed  some  of his   bark paintings  at the front of  the ABC, where they would be seen by  the princess and her party  as they entered the  building.  There was a picture of  Holmes  and the Yirawala  display  at the front of the  ABC  building  in  the NT News.

 

NEED  FOR  MORE  CLICHES

On hearing that   Paspalis   had died , Bowditch  sped  to  the News office  .   Eventually  he  and  Oram   met up  and  went for a  drink  at the Hotel Darwin in what was a hectic day .  They  then returned to  the   newspaper office   and  Bowditch   dictated a special  editorial  about Paspalis to Oram who typed it out.   When  the  task was  finished, Bowditch said to Oram: “ Well, what  do you think of that?”  Quick as a flash , time- wise ,  Oram  replied : “I’d  have  used more cliches.” Bowditch laughed and responded : “ You would- you  write for the bloody Mirror.”  After giving the editorial to  be set for the following morning’s paper, the two then  decided to  resume  the early  wake  for  Paspalis , across the road at the Hot and Cold bar.

When  Bowditch came back to the newspaper office later that  evening   he was told  of a strange situation.  The paper’s managing director , Brian Young,  had come to the office, read  the Paspalis editorial,  told the news editor , John Meeking, “ it’s not good enough”, and took it away with him .  The contentious   editorial  supposedly opened something like  this:   You can’t be the richest man in town and not  have enemies.  Michael Paspalis was the richest man in Darwin  and did have enemies , but he also  had many friends and did a lot for the  town...  However, in a subsequent letter to Mrs Paspalis, Bowditch  said  the  editorial had started  :  “ The richest man in town is rarely  the most popular, and so it was  with  Michael Theodosis  Paspalis.”

 

Bowditch became enraged  and rang  Young .  He   demanded  the editorial  be  returned .  Young refused , saying he had  “ total control”.  Bowditch then rang  Sydney and  Ken May , Rupert Murdoch's right hand man,  confirmed that  Young  did have complete control  of the newspaper.   This resulted in Bowditch   resigning . NEXT : The  strike  and  arbitration hearing .