Bawden participated in four Summer Paralympics, three as an athlete and one as an official and coach. At the 1968 Tel Aviv Games, he participated in archery, dartchery, lawn bowls, table tennis, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair fencing. At these Games, South Australian wheelchair athletes represented Australia for the first time. He participated in shooting, table tennis and wheelchair basketball at the 1976 Toronto Games. At the 1984 Stoke Mandeville Games, he participated in shooting. He was a wheelchair sports official and assistant basketball coach at the 1988 Seoul Games. Bawden won a gold medal in the Smallbore Rifle at the 1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Dunedin, New Zealand. He participated at the FESPIC Games.