I guess you could call Jim Chapman's bush poetry’s answer to the urban cowboy! Born and bred in Southend, the Cockney’s playground, the nearest he ever came to the ‘bush’ before coming to Australia in 1975 was the beer garden of the London’s famous ‘Bull and Bush’ pub, an establishment he used to haunt in search of inspiration. (Usually he just got stewed!)
In 1956, in a fit of patriotic fervour in his mid teens Jim joined the R.A.F. and spent the next 15 years fending off the Red Menace by polishing floors and painting coal white! Weekends were spent hitch hiking around the countryside, developing an‘ear’ for local dialects and picking up interesting stories. It was during his R.A.F. service that Jim began to acquire that particularly ‘military’ sense of humour that has been described (unkindly) as either ‘warped’ or ‘bitter and twisted’.
In 1975, upon leaving ‘The Mob’ in a blaze of glory, (his car caught fire), and with the princely sum of $1500, Jim fronted up at Australia House, Earl’s Court, with two grubby ‘fivers’ clutched in hand and thus, in due our likely lad arrived in Antipodes as yet another £10 Pommy Bastard.
Being totally unsuited for any form of meaningful employment, Jim promptly joined BHP as an electrician. This proved to be an unfortunate move for all parties involved. The share price of Nippon steel promptly rose by $2.50 over night, whilst BHP’s share value took off in the opposite direction.
Whilst (supposedly) working for the ‘Big Australian’ Jim continued to develop his skills at recording (and often initiating) Life’s little misadventures in verse. This was not really what BHP was looking for.
The End was swift and terrible!
Out on his neck and still reeling from the shock of suddenly having to earn an honest day’s pay, Jim has since been turning his somewhat dubious talent as a word smith to advantage, recounting in verse those aspects of ‘the human condition’, both historical and contemporaneous, that appeal to him.
When he is not bushwalking or fermenting sedition in public places, you’ll find Jim ‘doing his thing’ at the Illawarra Folk Club concerts, the Jamberoo Folk Festival and other similar venues of ill repute.