Career
He left the area in 1945, after being wrongfully arrested, and headed to the South Australian Riverland, where he assisted in the establishment of the Gerard Mission. In 1948, James began his career as a tracker for police and landowners, and gained much of his reputation tracking criminals (including arsonists, poachers and escapees) and lost persons. His successes including tracking escapee James Smith and finding Wendy Pfeiffer (who was nine years old at the time) after she was abducted near Mylor.
Jimmy James was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1984 and the inaugural South Australian Aboriginal Person of the Year in 1983, and he was given a gold medallion by the family of Wendy Pfeiffer.
After his death, a memorial to Jimmy James was erected in Berri, South Australia.
