Born in Glasgow, Scotland, and christened Desmond James, he came out to Australia in 1928 with his mother and two sisters. At age 14, he worked as a telephone switchboard operator at the Wentworth Hotel in Sydney city. Later on, he held the same position along with bellboy duties at Usher’s Hotel, also in the city, but by age 16, Jim found himself alone as his mother went to South Africa to be with her other son.
Through the Salvation Army he went to work at ‘Tindary Station’, east of Bourke in far north-west New South Wales, a part of Australia without any doubt, in total contrast to his native Scotland. After about two months, Jim had an altercation with the station manager. The mists of time made recollections a little bit unclear on the specific reasons for the dispute, but to do with his Scottish temperament. In any case, he felt that it was time to move on and the trip back to Cobar, some 250km away on an unsealed road, was covered on foot with only a packet of biscuits and a bottle of water for sustenance.
Fortunately, he made it back to Sydney in one piece and through a series of connections, he got a berth on a ship and made the journey back to Scotland. He then proceeded to work at a number of different jobs having become a courier with the British foreign office by the age of 20. Later he received a posting to Australia, arriving in 1939. The call of flying saw him join the Royal Australian Air Force, rising through the ranks to flying officer until he left to work at de Havillands at Camperdown in Sydney’s inner west.
By then, Jim had decided to stay in Australia, was married a second time with five children and felt that a total career change was in order. With this in mind, he answered an ad in the Sydney Morning Herald. This provided the connection to trucks that would be with him for the rest of his life. His lack of experience with heavy vehicles obviously hadn’t been an obstacle, as he was appointed to the position of Sales Engineer with White Trucks Pty. Ltd. They were a Sydney-based company which had by then established themselves as the official Australian distributors ofStreet in the city, plus branches in Brisbane and Melbourne as well.
