Timothy Gibson Bowden (2 August 1937 – 1 September 2024) was an Australian author, radio and television broadcaster and producer, and oral historian. He was born in Hobart, Tasmania, and studied at the University of Tasmania, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Bowden's work included hosting the Australian Broadcasting Corporation program Backchat (1986–1994), producing This Day Tonight during the 1970s, and founding the ABC's Social History Unit. His other productions include Prisoners of War – Australians Under Nippon and the 24-part series Taim Bilong Masta – The Australian Involvement with Papua New Guinea.
Tim Bowden has also authored numerous books and oral histories, including the well-known The Changi Camera documenting Australian prisoners-of-war under Japanese captivity.
Tim Bowden was a war correspondent during the Vietnam War, which included embedded journalism with military units on patrol. He was the only Western journalists who was embedded with South Vietnamese military units in the war.
During the 1990s he produced several notable documentaries on Australian research in the Antarctic.
Tim Bowden had conducted nearly 120 oral history reports, which are documented and publicly available on the Australian War Memorial website.
Bowden died on 1 September 2024, at the age of 87.
Appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 1994 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.
Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of Tasmania, 1997
Bowden, Tim (1987). One Crowded Hour: Neil Davis - Combat Cameraman (1934 - 1985). Sydney: Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-217496-1. OCLC 27487367.
Bowden, Tim (1990). The Backchat Book. ABC Enterprises. ISBN 978-0-7333-0000-4.
Bowden, Tim (1991). Antarctica and Back in Sixty Days. ABC Enterprises. ISBN 978-0-733-30113-1. OCLC 42579604.
Bowden, Tim (1992). The Way My Father Tells It: The Story of an Australian Life. ABC Books. ISBN 978-0-733-30010-3.
Bowden, Tim (1993). Changi Photographer: George Aspinall's Record of Captivity. Sydney: ABC. ISBN 978-0-7333-0287-9.
Bowden, Tim (1997). The Silence Calling: Australians in Antarctica 1947–97. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86448-311-6. OCLC 38199808.
Bowden, Tim (1999). Penelope Goes West: On the Road from Sydney to Margaret River and Back. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86508-066-6.
Bowden, Tim (2002). Penelope Bungles to Broome. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74343-221-1.
Bowden, Tim (2003). Spooling Through: An Irreverent Memoir. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-741-14026-2. OCLC 52468798.