{{Short description|Australian motorcyclist}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Ellis Matthewman Bankin | image = Ellis-Bankin.jpg | birth_date = 1903 | death_date = 14 January 1936 | death_cause = Thirst, exhaustion | occupation = School teacher }}
'''Ellis Matthewman Bankin''' (1903–1936) was an Australian teacher who died while motorcycling near Mount Conner, Northern Territory.
Ellis Bankin was born in Greenvale, Victoria in 1903.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Duckworth |first=R N |date=25 Nov 1985 |title=Help needed |work=The Age |pages=12}}</ref> he joined the Victorian Department of Education when he was 18.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Clune |first=Frank |date=2 March 1940 |title=Hello Australia! Blood on the Spinifex |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1267603181/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1326610311&searchTerm=%22Ellis+Bankin%22&partId=nla.obj-1267659552#page/n13/mode/1up/ |journal=ABC Weekly |volume=2 |issue=9 |pages=14 |via=Trove}}</ref> Bankin would teach at schools across Australia,<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=15 Feb 1936 |title=Australian Desert Tragedy |work=The Age |pages=21}}</ref> however he was also an ardent motorcyclist, making several trips throughout Australia and overseas.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |date=March 1936 |title=DEATH CLAIMS ARDENT PIONEER |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3505227594/view?sectionId=nla.obj-3722890912&searchTerm=%22Ellis+Bankin%22&partId=nla.obj-3505367926#page/n5/mode/1up/ |journal=Australian Cycling and Motor Cycling |publisher=Wilke and Co. Pty. Ltd |publication-place=Melbourne |volume=VI |issue=77 |via=Trove}}</ref> He visited the United States of America, travelling by boat as a sea steward, and spent three years there,<ref name=":0" /> where he visited 45/48 states. He then visited Canada, before returning to Australia. His next overseas trip was to England where he rode a bicycle around the country.<ref name=":2" /> He spent one year in England, travelling between teaching and taking odd jobs.<ref name=":0" /> [[File:Map of Ellis Bankin's final adventure.jpg|thumb|A map illustrating Ellis Bankin's final trip. Published in The Sun News Pictorial.]] Back in Australia, in January 1936 Bankin attempted to ride through the Northern Territory on his Triumph motorcycle.<ref name=":2" /> He had left Melbourne on 22 December 1935,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1 Feb 1936 |title=Lost in the Desert - Search for Teacher |work=The Shepparton Advertiser |pages=5}}</ref> and on 9 January 1936 set out from Alice Springs for Uluru, via Mount Conner.<ref name=":1" /> During the journey he was overcome by thirst and later found dead in the desert, ten miles from Lyndavale Station.<ref name=":1" /> Prior to entering the desert, Bankin had been repeatedly warned that his trip was suicidal to attempt without camels. However Bankin ignored them.<ref name=":1" /> It's believed that he mistook Mount Conner for Uluru and travelled in the wrong direction before he stopped.<ref name=":0" /> His bike had become stuck in the sand and his body was found laying nearby.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 Feb 1936 |title=Ellis Bankin's Death |work=The Ouyen Mail |pages=2}}</ref> He was found four miles from a watering hole which is presumed could have saved his life had he known it was there.<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 Feb 1936 |title=The Late Ellis Bankin Leaving Mildura |work=Sunraysia Daily |pages=3}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
He was 32 years old at the time of his death and had been employed by Glenroy state school, where he had worked since 1934. He was due to return to work at the end of January<ref name=":1" />
Bankin was buried where he died.<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 Feb 1936 |title=Desert Tragedy - How Ellis Bankin Died |work=The Age |pages=7}}</ref> A monument to Bankin was erected in Tarcombe, Victoria in August 1936.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ellis Bankin {{!}} Monument Australia |url=https://www.monumentaustralia.org/themes/people/tragedy/display/122348-ellis-bankin |access-date=2025-09-25 |website=Monument Australia}}</ref> A scholarship was founded in his honour in September that year.<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 Sep 1936 |title=Ellis Bankin Scholarship |work=The Argus, Week-End Section |pages=32}}</ref>
Bankin also contributed articles to ''Walkabout'' magazine where he described his motorcycle trips across Australia. The first, 'Across Australia by Motor Cycle', was published in August 1935,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bankin |first=Ellis |date=1 August 1935 |title=Across Australia by Motor Cycle |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-714165218/view?partId=nla.obj-714168569#page/n27/mode/1up/search/bankin |journal=Walkabout |volume=1 |issue=10 |pages=26–28 |via=Trove}}</ref> while the second, 'Innamincka – Impressions of a motor-cycle trip to this lonely station in the north-east of South Australia', was published in February 1936.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bankin |first=Ellis Matthewman |date=1 February 1936 |title=Innamincka - Impressions of a motor-cycle trip to this lonely station in the north-east of South Australia |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-722824966/view?partId=nla.obj-722828662#page/n29/mode/1up/ |journal=Walkabout |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=28–32}}</ref> The first was later republished in ''The School Magazine'' with a short biography explaining the tragedy of his death.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ellis |first=Bankin |date=4 June 1936 |title=Across Australia by Motor Cycle |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-774806127/view?sectionId=nla.obj-827119531&searchTerm=%22Ellis+Bankin%22&partId=nla.obj-774880698#page/n10/mode/1up |journal=School Magazine |volume=21 |issue=5 |pages=75–79 |via=Trove}}</ref>
His life was the subject of ''Ellis Matthewman Bankin: Outback motorcyclist who perished: a biography'' (1997) by Richard N. Duckworth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ellis Matthewman Bankin : outback motorcyclist who perished : a biography (1997) by R. N. Duckworth |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21235193?keyword=%22Ellis%20Bankin%22 |access-date=2025-09-25 |website=trove.nla.gov.au}}</ref> His research on Bankin is held by the State Library Victoria.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Duckworth |first=Richard |date=1905–2005 |title=Research papers on the life of Ellis Matthewman Bankin, 1905–2005 [manuscript] |url=https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/discovery/fulldisplay?&context=L&vid=61SLV_INST:SLV&search_scope=slv_local&tab=searchProfile&docid=alma9916408263607636 |access-date=2025-09-26 |website=State Library Victoria |language=en}}</ref> Additionally Library & Archives NT holds the Richard Duckworth Collection contianing photographs documenting Duckworth's visits to Bankin's grave,<ref>{{Cite web |date=1936–1986 |title=Richard Duckworth Collection |url=https://lant.on.worldcat.org/search/detail/1045638411?queryString=richard%20duckworth%20collection |access-date=26 Sep 2025 |website=Library & Archives NT}}</ref> and the Ellis Matthewman Bankin Collection 1903–1936 containing extracts from Bankin's diaries.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1903–1936 |title=Ellis Matthewman Bankin Collection 1903–1936 |url=https://lant.on.worldcat.org/search/detail/951504652?queryString=richard%20duckworth%20collection |access-date=26 Sep 2025 |website=Library & Archives NT}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* Duckworth, Richard N. (1997). Ellis Matthewman Bankin : outback motorcyclist who perished : a biography, R. N. Duckworth, Footscray, {{ISBN|978-0-646-24895-0}} * Hall, Laina. (2013). ''‘My wanderlust is not yet appeased’: Ellis Bankin and motorcycle touring in 1930s Australia. Studies in Travel Writing, 17(4), 368–383.'' {{doi|10.1080/13645145.2013.857134}} * James, Ken (2023). [https://www.chs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Newsletter-2023-53-June.pdf '''Ellis Bankin (1903 – January 1936) School teacher by profession, wanderer by inclination''’],Camberwell History, no. 53, June * Wells, Paul (2019). '[https://www.pressreader.com/australia/old-bike-australasia/20190901/282656099047289?srsltid=AfmBOoqXXfdCQ2pbybdoFJoonCZKarIb6mQ5NwjhPQdgkKrPCJxNny5x Bankin's Bike]', Old Bike Australasia, 1 Sep. Pressreader
== External links == {{Commons category}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Bankin, Ellis}} Category:1903 births Category:1936 deaths Category:Schoolteachers from Victoria (state) Category:People from Melbourne