DARWIN'S MONSTER BABY Continuing biog of Crusading Editor, “ Big Jim ” Bowditch .



Terry   Blake  was smart  enough  to channel  some of the Kings Cross  Whisper proceeds   into  original  Australian  paintings,  displayed on  the walls of  his  Coogee  residence . This  writer, in  Sydney  from  Darwin , was  invited to  a party at  Coogee . Among the guests , visiting  from  America  were  reporter Steve Dunleavy  and  his  wife , Yvonne  , she  having  transcribed  the  tapes  of  New York's leading madam, Xaviera  Hollander , for  the  1971  bestseller  book, The  Happy Hooker : My  Own Story . 

Reporter Jim  Oram  made a  dramatic  entry to  a  Coogee  party. Coming down Coogee  Bay  Road , he  side-swiped several  parked cars , ran  inside  and  hid  under  a  bed , to  evade  police.   Street- wise  bush lawyers attending  the party  advised  Oram  to  ring  the  police and  report  his  car stolen - which  he  did  .   

 

In l988 Terry Blake  published   Kings Cross Whisper  The Way It  Was , an hilarious account  of the  golden days of the publication  .   The  book   carried an unusual erratum  list   which  admitted to some “classic  ballsups”  in Terry Blake’s narrative -like three extensive  duplications  of  text.  In the excuses for the gross errors  it  put forward  the  possibility   that  Blake, the editor and  the trained  monkey - which did the  paste  up- were all blind  drunk.  ,  Blake  described the extraordinary , almost unbelieveable  events  which  took place in each state as the  Whisper expanded. 

He  told how  they had been  rushing to   get  an edition finished to commence  some  serious drinking   and found there was  nothing to fill a front page ear  of the paper.  A  printer solved the  problem by  inserting some  type   he had which was  in  Greek.   The  story had a  Moscow  dateline  and the Special  Branch rang up  Ramsay and  quizzed him about  this story in code  from behind the Iron Curtain   It was a simple report  about the  Russian  Nikolai  Bulganin’s  visit to  a   car factory in  Athens.

 By Peter Simon

Covering the   entry  of the  publication into the Northern Territory, Blake  described  Darwin  as  “ a distant parent  to the  monster ” Kings Cross Whisper.  As such , it  had been happy to “ welcome  it’s  baby  home ”.  With Bowditch still  the editor of the Northern Territory News  at the time , Blake wrote that there was none of the “editorial claptrap ” they had  encountered in  other  states.  In fact,  Bowditch wrote a front page  story  about the Whisper  and  former NT  News   journalist   Jim Ramsay  jousting  with  the   Queensland  authorities . The  report  implied  there would be no such  trouble with the  Whisper  in the Territory  as  there had been in Queensland , which was  the  case.   

Terry  Blake  told me  of a  politician  who had  been an enemy of the  Kings Cross Whisper .  An envelope containing  photographs  seemingly  showing   this  fellow   romping  with  naked women  came his way one  day .  Blake said he had  been  sorely tempted  to use them  in  the Whisper , but  decided not to  because  of the gnawing  fear that  they   were  false  and that the man’s head had been superimposed  on  somebody else’s body.  

 

Terry  Blake took time out to  write  an unusual  Australian political novel with a very violent  end , The Fig Tree, AIM Publishing , 231  Oxford Street , Darlinghurst , set in Linotype Times   by  Clancy Typesetters ( one of  the Whisper companies ), in 1975 . He  travelled  north to  the  Cairns  area , living in  caravan  camps along  the  way, working on the tome. On his return to Sydney he  said  northern caravan  parks contained   many   weirdos.

 

The  dustjacket  featured a ficus illustration, the blurb read  : The  author  is best known  for his  short stories   and  of  The Fig Tree, his  third  novel , written  at  the  age of  36,  Blake says : “ There’s plenty  in it  if you want to look , but first  and foremost  it tries  to be  a fast, entertaining  novel. It  took  me  the  sweat  and  exasperation  of  two  unpublished  books  to  discover  that.  Your  first  responsibility  is  to rattle  off  the  yarn. You can  put all the rest inside  it,  symbolically , subliminally  or whatever , but  on secondary planes. The yarn comes first.”

 

FAMILY  INFLUENCED   AUSTRALIAN   CULTURE  

Continuing,  the blurb  explained : The  loyalty  to  narrative  is  not  surprising  . A  grandson  of  the fabled  Dyson clan ( grandmother  Jess  shared  the  extraordinary talents  of  her elder brothers  and  sisters ) he  was brought  up on a diet  of literature   and  painting . With  Lawson  and  Patterson   great  uncle  Ted  dominated  the  literary scene  at  the turn of  the century . His novels  Golden  Shanty and  Below and on Top  are still widely read    and  all  over the  world.  Later  came  the  Lindsay influence . It is  not widely known  these  days  that  the  two  families  intermarried ( Lionel  to Jean  Dyson and Ruby  to Will Dyson ) and the clan  had a massive  influence on  the  development  of Australian culture.

 

Growing  up in this environment  there  seemed   little doubt  the author  would move  into some creative field , and with  father  Bill Blake  , one of  Melbourne’s  best - journalists, and  Bill’s  brother  Harry taking  off   the Melbourne  Sun short story  first prize  two years running , he just  naturally turned  to  writing , The Fig Tree is  a fair pointer  to the development  of  one of  Australia’s  major writing talents  . The book was dedicated ...


Chief  characters included a visiting princess , a brutal security chief ,several politicians, one  the prime minister. The central character was described as being one of the most ruthless figures in modern  fiction.   Thrown into this mix was  a  planned  assassination , cannibalism , some novel sexual  behaviour, a series of murders  and  action  ranging  from  a  secluded  tropical  paradise  to  Canberra's corridors of  power. Phew.  

 

In  2008  ,  Peter  Blake provided  an interesting  insight  into  the  writing  of  Fig Tree.  It was , he emailed ,   a  political  novel  featuring  a   thinly disguised  prominent conservative  politician… "Terry had  the idea of writing a novel by committee: i.e., he would do the first chapter, somebody else  the next and so on. Hence the  dedications ( in the book ) , although as  far as I know,  the  other intended contributors never put finger to typewriter.  If I'm correct,  the dedications are for  C.J. Mackenzie (Ces) , Fred Cullen (Fred), Gus  Debrito ( Gus) Jim Ramsay (Jim) , Ken McCauley ( Ken)  and  yours  truly. All  taken ,  a  pretty  grisly crew. Dunno how the project collapsed  but Terry ended up  writing  it  himself.... and  yes , you  are correct , it  was  published  by  one  of  our  dubious  companies."


While attending a weekend  market in Adelaide , in the  search for oddities,  I  was both  surprised  and  elated   to see Terry Blake  in the crowd . When asked what he was  doing in town,Terry said he was finalising  the sale of the  last   Whisper  Orgy Shop in  Australia . In   these  transactions , he  said, you arranged to meet  a person in a certain place ,   a bundle of money was  handed to  you , then you  ran like hell  to the nearest bank before  somebody  jumped out of   dark lane, hit  you on  the  head and  grabbed the loot.    Adelaide, he said, had more  sex shops than any other state capital, which he  said  was  quite  revealing  about   the  City  of Churches  .


Kings Cross continued to attract  Terry Blake  long after  the  Whisper  had expired .  While  this writer was  drinking  with him  in the pub used by  News Limited reporters  in  Sydney  , Terry asked  why  a  man of  his  age  should still  be drawn  to  the  Cross.  He laughed when told  it  was  a  sign that the  sap was still  rising . Tragically,   Blake  received fatal  head  injuries  outside  a  King’s Cross  establishment.    NEXT : Bowditch  tickles  the  ivories .