The Author
Brisbane 1951

Alice  M  Bowman

1912 - 2000

Alice M Bowman preferred, always, to be known as Bowie. She was born in Longreach, Queensland, an only daughter with two brothers. Bowie's father died when she was eight and with her mother's second marriage she gained two half-brothers.

Bowie grew up in western Queensland in the harsh environment of the Channel Country. Her mother encouraged her to train for secretarial duties and after completing this course Bowie chose to pursue a career in nursing, gaining her General Nursing certificate with training at Maryborough Hospital and her Midwifery certificate at Cairns Base Hospital.

The ordeal of the war over, Bowie returned from imprisonment in Japan and settled in Brisbane, where she married Gordon Déglon in 1951. Gordon Déglon was an AIF veteran of the Second World War, having seen service in the Middle East and New Guinea. Bowie and Gordon made their home in South Africa, which was Gordon's birthplace. Gordon died in 1977 and Bowie remained in South Africa where she continued nursing until her very senior years. She loved her garden and her companionable dogs and was supported in widowhood by many good friends; her sincere personality and effervescent nature endeared her to all. With declining health in later years and far from home Bowie was lovingly cared for by the staff at Hillcrest Hospital, near her home on the outskirts of Durban and where she had worked for many years caring for her own patients. Bowie died peacefully in January 2000 with her dear friend Monica by her side.

Joyce and Bowie
Rabaul 1939

Bowie's manuscript was written over a number of years from her diary (stealthily kept whilst held captive) and from the diary of her lifelong friend, Joyce McGahan. Bowie and Joyce (pictured on the cover of Not Now Tomorrow) supported each other throughout their years in captivity and during the ensuing recuperating years. As civilian nurses there was no structure in place for assistance and welfare on their return, although, through the Union Jack Club in Queensland and the Brisbane Courier Mail, a substantial sum of money was raised and distributed amongst the returning Queensland prisoner-of-war nurses (army and civilian) from Singapore and Rabaul. Bowie used her money wisely and opened a child-care day nursery in the Valley, Brisbane. It was here that she met her husband, Gordon Déglon, who was at that time proprietor of The Valley Advertiser newspaper.

Origin of the Title

The title of Bowie's book Not Now Tomorrow stems from a special segment towards the end of the nurses' imprisonment. Interaction with the prominent Japanese Obasan in the village of Totsuka, south of Yokohama, was a period crucial to their survival. Starvation was already taking its toll and bartering for food with the Obasan was a constant occupation. The food was not always forthcoming, as promised, and the Obasan would persistently reiterate "ima nai ashita". A Japanese phrase book provided the interpretation, not now tomorrow! The Obasan did not realise that tomorrow was of special significance to the nurses — not the present day, but tomorrow when the Japanese would be defeated. Unwittingly, she was fueling an even more powerful determination of faith in tomorrow.This segment of Bowie's story was read on a South African radio program. Although written by Bowie it was not read by her, her voice a little too country Australian for the predominantly British South African audience of Natal.

The following lines, about the Obasan's broken promises, were written by Mrs. Bignell and are quoted from The Battle of the Sachies, one of her many poems written whilst a prisoner in Japan and featured in Yield Not to the Wind. The sachie or sweet potato was not a common vegetable in Australia in those days. The nurses were familiar with it as the humble kaukau of New Guinea, although it was never a favoured food. In Japan, however, hunger found sachies irresistably delicious and they could not get enough of them!

All prisoners-of-war placed faith in the hope of tomorrow when the world would be free. On a tree in a cutting on the infamous Thai-Burma railway are the words: When you go home Tell them of us and say We gave our tomorrow For your today. In the seventeen months it took to complete this Herculean task, 100,000 Allied POWs never saw tomorrow; they perished as a result of starvation, disease and brutality at the hands of Japanese and Korean guards! Bowie's friend and colleague among the Administration nurses, Jean McLellan from Dalby, Queensland, lost her brother on this railway construction. The words Bowie has chosen for her title are profoundly appropriate.

Advance Australia Fair

Although having lived for forty-one years in South Africa (with a short time spent in Malawi) Bowie remained a staunch, patriotic Australian. Her story is dedicated to her profession, her colleagues and, most importantly of all, to Australia, her country.