First part in the condensed biography of James Frederick Bowditch , a great crusading editor , below , right , with close friend , Melbourne Herald journalist, editor and author , Douglas Lockwood, outside the Darwin Press Club in 1980. Both were posthumously inducted into the Australian Journalism Hall of Fame last year.
INTRODUCTION
Fleeing the grime
of London and its
oppressive social
order, an unusual teenager , Jim Bowditch, sailed
for Australia in 1937 in
search of a new life .
Throughout his residence in Australia
he fought the establishment and
relentlessly championed the cause of the underdog. Even during his
distinguished war service which saw him
perform repeated acts of bravery
against enormous odds, he
clashed with
officers , military police of several
nations and
incurred so many fines that he frequently organised
gambling and other lurks
to get
spending money.
After the war , he established a reputation as a fearless , crusading
journalist. From ramshackle newspaper buildings
with clapped out equipment , he fought
to right many wrongs .
It mattered not if
you were regarded
by society as a mental defective, an escapee on the run from police , a woman
with children facing eviction
or a member of one of the
richest families on earth, Bowditch was prepared to take instant-often daring - action to
help or rescue you . One
request he turned down
was to use
his wartime knowledge
of explosives to
blow up a bridge to disrupt the production of
uranium in the NT, which he wished had been left in the earth.
Apart from covering the news, his
exploits became headline news throughout
Australia . His campaigns shaped
the nation’s attitude in
relation to such issues
as the White Australia Policy, indentured
labour, Northern Territory
political reform , Aboriginal
advancement and land
rights .
While not hiding his flaws, this is
a tribute to a man who ,
with great courage ,
flair and undoubted cost to his family,
relentlessly fought for humanity in general.
With the passage of time his so-called “ larrikinism” tended to overshadow and detract from the greatness of the man . In a self deprecating way, he described
his wayward behaviour as “naughty” or “a
bit bent”. For the
first time , there is a detailed
medical explanation
for his excesses which will be run later on.
The saga also provides
an
unusual insight into Australia’s Cold War period when Bowditch
and many
of his associates, exercising
the rights and freedoms of individuals
in a democracy, were closely
watched
by the nation’s security network.
A BOY CALLED
BOADICEA
A certain amount of printers’ ink coursed
through the veins of Frederick James Bowditch when he was
born in Lewisham , south-east London, on July 27, l919 . The second eldest of five children , he had been
named after his maternal
grandfather, Frederick Manning, who lived in and ran a printery
in a large building in
the High Street , Lewisham.
Grandfather Manning had an uncle and
cousin in the printing and stationery
trade . In the l881 British census he was listed as being
17 years of age
and a bookbinder. He
grew into a large , tall man , and was dubbed “Frederick the Great ”.
As young Jim grew , his
family
called him “Big Jim”, not because of any outstanding physical characteristic, but simply because he was slightly bigger than most
boys , though lean. Like all the children in the family , four boys and a girl, Jim inherited his mother’s
somewhat prominent nose . He was very fond of his mother- a gentle, placid , but tenacious
woman , bullied by his father
At about age five Jim
was found to be suffering from
anaemia, a condition common on his
father’s side of the family ; his father had also been
anaemic . As a result ,
Jim was placed on
an iron - rich diet of chopped raw liver and watercress.
A frightening experience for him had been the removal of his
tonsils and adenoids in an operation carried out on the kitchen table. His mother
and father stood beside him to make sure he did not jump about while the
doctor held a funnel doused with
anaesthetic over his face. Immediately, he began to dream that he was in
a canoe on a very long, fast flowing
river. Somewhere up ahead was a waterfall, and he was
going straight over the edge ... He awoke on the kitchen table in excruciating pain, hardly able to breathe or swallow.
Because of his similar sounding surname of Bowditch
,
schoolmates nicknamed him after the prominent
figure in British
history, Boadicea, the legendary warlike Queen of the Icanti tribe. Popularly
depicted carrying a shield and trident, she defiantly fought the Roman invaders. Like
the warrior queen, Bowditch had an impressive mop of hair.
The early childhood years
were fairly affluent ones for the Bowditch family. His father,
Captain Hugh Bowditch , once a British Army boxing champion , was an
electrical engineer in a large company, Phillips, and earned good money, enabling them to live on a
wooded estate in Sidcup, Kent.
Captain Bowditch wanted one of his sons to continue the family name in the ring.
Boxing gloves were kept at home , and he frequently sparred with his sons,strongly urging them to pursue what he called the “ manly art”.
Because of his bigger build, Jim was pressed into the school boxing team and for each win his father rewarded him with five shillings . He received a mind-scarring thrashing from one particularly good boxer with whom his father had him matched to provide the necessary “ backbone ” to become a fighter. Violence, in many forms, would stalk Jim throughout his life. Captain Bowditch , in the Royal Fusiliers , had been awarded the Military Cross in World War 1. He boasted of quelling a revolt by Indian troops by shooting dead a number of the unfortunate men on or near the front line.
Because of his bigger build, Jim was pressed into the school boxing team and for each win his father rewarded him with five shillings . He received a mind-scarring thrashing from one particularly good boxer with whom his father had him matched to provide the necessary “ backbone ” to become a fighter. Violence, in many forms, would stalk Jim throughout his life. Captain Bowditch , in the Royal Fusiliers , had been awarded the Military Cross in World War 1. He boasted of quelling a revolt by Indian troops by shooting dead a number of the unfortunate men on or near the front line.
Much to the consternation of neighbours, Captain Bowditch blazed away at cats with his Service revolver
which he had kept. Even
when police called to investigate the shots , he was able to bluff them out of taking any action , certainly not confiscate his trusty gun.
"SMELLY" PEOPLE SURPRISED
Manliness, his form of
manliness, was extolled ,
and the
eldest son, John,
because he was
artistically and musically inclined , had a difficult time
at home. Captain
Bowditch liked his
drop. Under the influence of liquor,
he would
indulge his peculiar
sense of humour.
At random, he
would select a “ funny” name from
the telephone directory.
Smelley , a common name
in Britain, gave
him considerable
entertainment. Late at night,
in his cups, Captain Bowditch would call up a Smelley .
“Are you Smelley ?”he would
would demand in
a deep military
voice. When the
surprised person answered
in the affirmative
, Captain Bowditch would
then bellow, “ Well,
what are you going
to do about it ?!” He
would then, in
Jim’s words, “ laugh himself
silly”. The Smelleys of
London were not
the only ones
to receive such
annoying calls from
his intoxicated father.
The estate at
Sidcup was ringed
by a high
stone wall and
the Bowditch boys used to
indulge in a
disgusting pastime. They
would lie on
top of the
wall and spit
on hats going
by. In particular , top hats
were a favoured
target because they
provided a bigger
target , and there was
less chance of the
spittle being noticed .
Other entertainment for
the boys included
conker fights and
they swung their
chestnuts with great
gusto . Pet rabbits
were kept.
It was at
Sidcup while he
was in the
boy scouts that
he first came
in contact with
what, on reflection , he thought
was homosexuality . There was
a scoutmaster who used
to keep some
of the boys
behind at night .
He would pull
down his trousers
and display a
scar near his
penis , which he
said “the Huns ”had
inflicted on him
with a bayonet.
He would then
invite the boys
to touch the
scar. It was
through the scouts that
he joined a “ gang”
of boys who
used to play up
in the streets.
One of the
nastiest pieces of
violence took place
when the gang
decided that a
lad from another
gang in the
same scout group
had done something
wrong.
They “ambushed ” the
boy outside the scout
hall , bound him
tightly to a
stepladder, and then gagged him.
The ladder was
placed against the
main entrance door
to the scout
hall so that
the scoutmaster unwittingly
sent the boy
crashing to the
floor on his
face when it opened.
The hapless victim
received facial injuries . All the
members of the
gang were severely punished.Scouting also
gave Jim his
first understanding of the immense
poverty in London. Each Christmas the
scouts would obtain
donations of food
from their parents,
parcel them up and
distribute gifts in
wheelbarrows and billycarts
to the poor
and needy.
The people who received the gifts lived in
deplorable slums. Most of the homes
consisted of one large room
with a fireplace; there was no plumbing.
Communal toilets and taps were in the courtyards . The scouts , bearing the gifts, would approach the hovels blowing whistles. The object of all the noise making, in Jim’s
opinion, was more to bolster the spirits of the scouts than
to let the unfortunate recipients of
this Christian charity know they were
coming. “ We used to think
that these strange people we had seen emerging
from these places on previous
occasions might be dangerous to
us, ” said Bowditch. “The real tragedy of the situation was that
the people could not afford to
refuse the food, but they hated us. They
would emerge from their filthy rooms, snatch
the bread and dripping, or whatever, from our hands and slam the door in
our faces.”
PLAYING AT EDITOR
PLAYING AT EDITOR
The squalor of the fetid residences
compared with the leafy
estate upon which he lived made a vivid
impression on young Bowditch. At
home Jim said it was wrong that people had to live that way. From time to time he also
spoke out about other things
which he thought were wrong
in society , causing his parents
to jokingly comment that he
was “our
little socialist” . His brother Peter
was also in the scouts and they went on annual camps, looking very much
alike because of their
hair. Jim was supposed to take
care of Peter-because he was older- but never did. They performed in the annual
scout concert, The Gang Show, taking part in singing, sketches and dressing up as girls. The two had frequent fist fights.
On several occasions Jim stood up to his father over the way he treated his mother .
Responding to being chipped by Jim , Captain Bowditch once chased his son,
who climbed a chestnut tree and spent most of the day and part of a chilly night out on a limb. It was an ignominious situation for a boy
called
Boadicea. During an interview in Australia, Mary Bowditch said their father
had been a “gay blade”, an expression indicating a person who enjoyed partying,
drinking and smoking with
his friends.
At some stage the Bowditch family had a typewriter which Mary
thought had been
given to them by a
workmate of their father’s , “ Uncle ” Bill Glass .
With this typewriter the boys
played at bringing out a newspaper
on a desk in the lounge room,
selling copies to family members. Jim had
a major part in its production and the paper ran
local news. It was produced
on and off for several years .
Jim , the chief reporter , did everything with a flourish.
Sister Mary said she
could remember
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.
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
Saint Margaret’s Anglican Church,
Lee . As she strode purposefully up the path to the church
with her four sons, the vicar
often remarked ,
“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 upset by the schoolboy
prank of “flying ”- ripping trouser fly
buttons out 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 .”
WAR AGAINST BAILIFFS
Through a friend at the
grammar school Jim got to know a
farming family at Little Marlow in the Buckinghamshire area. Often he would cycle to the farm for the weekend , hanging onto the side of trucks for a tow along the way. On
the farm he helped to milk cows, plough the fields , handle equipment and look after livestock.
Although a small farm, the people
ate well and seemed better off than his
family. A desire to become a
farmer when he grew up developed in Jim.
Returning late one Sunday
from a pleasant time on the farm
, Jim found a disturbing situation at home.
His mother, crumpled and crying ,
was sitting on the floor in the corner of the dining room. The entire house had been stripped
by heartless bailiffs . Recalling
the event , he said :
“There was nothing in the
way of furniture, no knives, no forks, no towels, no sheets- the house was
stripped bare and she (mother) was
enormously distressed . I can remember
trying to comfort her ,and she told me
that as a result of bills not
being paid by my father the
bailiffs had come around and
taken away all our possessions. I
was deeply furious . Over the years , I
have campaigned strongly against racial
discrimination , but I must admit that then I had a deep hatred
for the Jews because they
were bailiffs. I raced around on my bike
and got relatives and
friends to provide bedding, pots and
pans and other household needs. But I
had already determined to get
revenge on the bailiffs . In
those days , chemistry sets were
popular and you could get the
ingredients for gunpowder. I found out where the bailiffs lived, and set to work making
flying bombs . Using cardboard and plywood , doorknobs filled with
gunpowder , live matches and pieces of matchbox , I made primitive
gliders which exploded on impact.
At night I would ride pretty fast
past a bailiff’s house, launch the flying
bomb and ride off quickly ; there was a pretty big explosion. The aim was to terrorise the bailiffs and pay them back
for their act
of cruelty on my mother.
It is a wonder that I did not blow myself up in the process . Nobody got hurt as far as I know . It was
revenge for an act of total
brutality on a human being .”
The campaign against bailiffs lasted about three months during which time he enlisted the help of some gang members. As if bailiffs were not bad enough, Jim had to contend with a thankless headmaster.
Caught by prefects
puffing a cigarette , he was hauled before the same headmaster
who had enlisted his
assistance to wipe out
flying. Instead of getting
a mild
reprimand, as Jim expected, the
headmaster decided to make an example of him. The headmaster, carrying a cane ,took him on
stage in front of the
entire school assembly and said
smoking had to stop . He then called the porter up and Jim was told to jump on his back and put his arms around his shoulders . The
headmaster then proceeded to pull up
Jim’s shirt and take down his trousers . He then “got into ” Jim with the birch . “ It must have been a
ludicrous sight, ” said Bowditch , “
because the headmaster was this strange little monkey-like man, very small indeed, wailing
away at me sitting on the back of the
porter. After that , he left the stage and summoned me to the study
where he gave me a lecture on why he had done what he did. Then he told me to go home and not return
until the next day. ”
It had been an enormous indignity being beaten before so many people ; he did not smoke again until he joined the Australian Army. Recurring nightmares about being chained to a block of ice caused
him to wonder if it was
due to
that public flogging .
His memories of
school were mainly ones of scuffling and
fighting. He had no clear memory of
learning much at all and came to distrust
“ almost everything” a few years
after leaving school. In particular ,
he discovered that what he had been taught at school about China
had been misleading: “I can
remember being taught by this geography
teacher , a strange man by the way ,
whose form of punishing kids was to stand
you in a corner and throw pieces of chalk
at your head . Anyway, he told us
that the lesson on China was brief, and he really meant
brief. The book he quoted
from dismissed China as a
very big area of
land with so many people in it
nobody had ever been able to count the
population . He said the country was
subject to serious drought every year
which killed millions of people- and that was China. ”
