By Phil Jarratt
It’s a year since Noosa lost John Bowie, a bloke who personified what this summer time column is all about – people who love our beaches and make a positive difference to them.
John made his positive difference by just being a ray of sunlight for everyone who encountered him. Admittedly, at Main Beach in the early morning hours there are hordes of positive people, swimming, running, walking, surfing, floating, wading, doing whatever floats their boats, alone or in groups. All of these folk have I Love Noosa written on their faces, imprinted on their souls, but none of them was quite like John Bowie.
For years John, the bloke in yellow, cycled to the beach or the river every morning with wife Chris and beloved dog Buster, there to hold court in his favoured spot – on the boardwalk just along from the lifeguard tower at Main Beach – tell jokes, share memories and brighten the day for his wide circle of mates.
Born in West Wyalong, NSW in 1947, John grew up at the beach after his teacher father was transferred to Port Macquarie, and developed a lifelong love of surfing. He also became an excellent rugby player, joining Gordon Rugby Club in Sydney after he finished school, and later playing for the combined services team while serving in the RAAF at Williamtown. After his air force days he played first grade rugby for Stockton and Merewether.
John met Chris in 1970 and they married on New Year’s Eve in 1975. She became a teacher, he a signwriter, and after a few years moving around, they made their home back in Port Macquarie, where John built their dream home in 1981. From an early age John had been a talented cartoonist, often doing funny drawings of his teachers in primary school. But at Port Macquarie he started cartooning in earnest and soon had black and white cartoons published in Australian Playboy and other national magazines.
The Bowies moved to Noosa in 2002 and, says Chris: “John started a love affair with the place that never waned. He loved the surf, the people, the strong sense of community, and he did his utmost to engage as many people as possible. Telling jokes and making people laugh was his main aim in life, all the while dressed in his sunny yellow outfits.”
A cancer diagnosis in the early days of the Covid pandemic in 2020 resulted in John seeking treatment in Sydney, but when he was told his condition was terminal, he and Chris found themselves stranded there, unable to get a quarantine exemption to come home to Noosa to spend his final days.
What happened next says a lot about the strength of friendship that John Bowie inspired, and the spirit of Noosa’s beach people. In September 2020 they staged a yellow protest at Main Beach, demanding an exemption for their dying friend, and it made such a splash in the media that it was granted soon after.
A year ago a broken-hearted Chris Bowie told Noosa Today: “It was so amazing to spend the last three months saying goodbye to everyone. Our 45th wedding anniversary was on New Year’s Eve and I think he had that goal in mind, to be here for that. He was such a strong-willed man. I managed to get him to the beach or the river every day up until last weekend.”
