James William (Jim) Campbell MM was the 4th child and oldest son of Hon. James Campbell (1845-1893). James was born on 3rd August 1876 in Ballarat, Victoria shortly after his father had returned from studying in Europe for the previous three years.

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Records and stories of James’ early years are non-existent. On 11th February 1902 he enlisted in Melbourne for “Service in South Africa”, i.e. what we know as the Boer War. His enrollment papers show that he was then 25 years old, single, his “trade or calling” being listed as “gentleman”. His next of kin was his mother, Mrs J. Campbell of Cochrane St, Brighton, Vic. The papers go in to say that he was of fair complexion, blue eyes, 5’9” tall, and that he had a scar on his right buttock!

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Records suggest that James may have served with the New South Wales Imperial Bushmen (IB), and certainly later with the 4th Battalion Australian Commonwealth Horse (ACH).

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With the IB he seemingly served May 1900 - May 1901 in Rhodesia and west Transvaal including capture of de la Rey's convoy and guns at Wildfontein (24th March 1901).

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With the ACH he arrived in Durban 2nd April 1902, encamped at Showgrounds until 24th April 1902, entrained for Newcastle Natal arrived 26th April 1902, encamped at Kitchener’s Kop. On 10th May to Wool's Bridge Buffalo River. On 13th May march for Volksrust Transvaal thence entrained for Elandsfontein arrived 16th May. On 1st June news was received of the peace conference, and he returned shortly after to Australia.

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Records are unclear as to what James did after the Boer War. However on May 15th 1916, he re-enlisted, this time with the Australian Imperial Force. He was at that time just under 40 years old. This time his “trade or calling” is listed as Plantation Manager, so there is a fair chance that by that time he was working in the then New Guinea. By now he was listed as being 5’ 7” tall, with three scars on his left buttock!

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A story from the diaries of a Ted Bishton records as follows:

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There were a couple of characters up around Buka Passage. One was Jim Campbell, who planted up Soraken Plantation for Burns Philp before the First World War, and Charles Huson. They were always at loggerheads and always trying to outsmart each other. Jim Campbell was for a short time Inspector for the Board and knew all the workings of that organisation. The distance from Kieta to Buka was approximately ninety miles and, along this coast, Jim Campbell had several trading stations.

 

His service record shows that he enlisted as a private, and at various times was promoted to Sergeant or Acting Sergeant, and then “reverted to ranks”. He served in Africa and then with the 32nd Battalion in France. He suffered various bouts of sickness due to malaria and was hospitalised on several occasions. It is speculation on my part that the malaria was a result of having lived in Bougainville for however long beforehand. On one such occasion he met nurse Amy Warburton, and on 23rd July 1918 they married at Newton Abbot, near Torquay, England – he was 42 and she 25.

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Shortly afterwards he returned to the Western Front. A citation, signed by Major-General J Talbott Hobbs, records:

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During the operations from 29th September to 1st October 1918 in the BELLICOURT Sector, Private Campbell displayed great gallantry and initiative.

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On the morning of 29th September, he assisted to reorganise other troops who appeared to be leaderless, and then led his own section forward in the face of heavy machine gun fire.

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On the morning of 1st October immediately after the capture of JONCOURT he mounted the Church Tower and observed and reported the enemy movements under heavy shell and machine gun fire.

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During the three days he set a fine example of gallantry and devotion to duty to all under his command.

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(sgd.)  J. TALBOTT HOBBS.  Mjr-Genl.  5th Aust. Divn.

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For these acts of gallantry he was awarded the Military Medal.

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He must have been quite a character. Another story I discovered, again from the diaries of a Ted Bishton, tells:

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I used to look forward to Jim Campbell’s visits. He was a good talker and used to tell me of his experiences in earlier days. He told me of a fight he had with a German named Schultz or Schmidt on Tinputz Plantation. He said they fought for hours and, when the German could go no further, he went and got a revolver and shot himself. Jim had to get some of the plantation boys and bury him. He said, another time, he came to Kieta with Bill Stower, just when the First World War broke out. We were sitting on the front veranda of my house at the time. Jim said he and Bill came up those steps and there in that room sat the manager of Hernsheim’s and three or four other Germans with the German flag on the table. He said they were toasting the Kaiser and all that sort of thing, so Jim just swiped everything off the table. The German manager had a big dog which made a rush at Jim, but Bill Stower was still standing there with a hurricane lamp in his hand, so he hit the dog on the head and knocked it out cold. I never heard who won that little war; even Bill Stower could not remember the climax.

 

Amy, now Mrs Campbell, joined him in Buka at some time, probably in the early 1920s. It is unclear as to whether she travelled to Buka from the UK more or less directly, or whether she had spend some time in Australia first. Ted Bishton continues:

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Jim Campbell arrived at my place from Buka Passage and informed me he was in Kieta to await the arrival of his wife-to-be. She was a nurse whom he had met in England during the war. The bride duly arrived and they were married by District Officer McAdam. The happy couple left Kieta immediately after the wedding ceremony to return to Jim’s plantation. Their transport for the ninety-mile trip was an open cutter about twenty foot long. 

 

Whether the story of the wedding is correct or not is also unable to be verified. There’s no doubt that they married in England in the war, so maybe Bishton is wrong, or maybe they had another ceremony for the benefit of the Bougainville community.

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Unfortunately, fate was against the Campbells. His health obviously deteriorated, and in August 1930 he died in Kieta hospital from tertiary malaria (blackwater fever) and is buried there.

She returned to the UK after his death, and her son Matthew (see below) was born there. They returned when he was a baby, and she managed the plantation until 1938 just prior to the outbreak of WWII. Matthew told me in one of his emails:

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My mother left for England shortly after my father’s death where I was born in 1931. She returned to Buka with me as a baby and continued with the plantation until we departed for England in 1938 and were caught there by the outbreak of the second war.  We never returned to Buka as my mother had sold out on leaving for England but did not get paid until after the war because of the moratorium act.  She did not get much because of time lapse and lawyer fees. 

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Again, from Ted Bishton:

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Mrs Campbell was a lovely woman and had a very hard life on the plantation. Jim died and she carried on the plantation, which was still not bearing, on her own. The chaps round Buka Passage were very good to her and helped her quite a lot.

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So that is the end of the story. James was without doubt a “real character” as they say. A bit like his brother Allan, I would have loved to have met him. Apart from the family name, I am interested simply because of our mutual (Papua) New Guinea connection, albeit it 40/50 years apart. I’ll let Matthew have the last word on that:

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I would be most interested in your sojourn in PNG.  I.e. PNG mainland or other?  Apart from our visit in 1985, I have no recall of my early years, baby to nearly 8.

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We visited the plantation and met the current manager or ?owner?.  I don’t think there is much profit in copra today much as there was not in my Mother’s day!  She made much of visiting ships mainly Burns Philip.

 

With many thanks to James’s son, John Matthew James Campbell, known as Matthew, for much of this information.