Thinking the Northern Territory News would be interested in an old article about its former great editor , Jim Bowditch , who had served in the Z Special Force in the Second World War, Darwin activist Rob Wesley-Smith took it along to the newspaper. His action was prompted by the fact that there had been a recent special ceremony in Canberra at the Australian War Memorial to honour the brave group , who took the fight to the enemy behind their lines . Jim Bowditch ? Two reporters had no idea who he was or the extraordinary things he had done both as a soldier and a crusading editor. The media in general did not pick up the interesting fact that the Bowditch family were involved in various ways in the recent Northern Territory election...the Bowditch spirit lives on, Jim having once stood for the ALP in the seat of Fannie Bay.
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American medal awarded to Bowditch for his wartime service in Pacific ; he also received the Distinguished Conduct Medal , Mentioned In Dispatches .
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It seems that in all the coverage given to the Wave Hill walk off to Wattie Creek by the Gurindji , little , perhaps nothing , was said at major events marking the anniversary and book launch about the fact " Big Jim" Bowditch kept the struggle alive for years before the famous event in which PM Gough Whitlam was photographed making that symbolic act of pouring the sand into the hand of Vincent Lingiari , in the important Aboriginal landrights case. Years ago , the late author Frank Hardy personally acknowledged Bowditch's tireless efforts which eventually led to a major win . Another opportunity for the NT News to recall the extraordinary work of its former extraordinary editor ... if anybody knew , or cared.
