DEAD OF EXPOSURE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21708, 15 February 1936, Page 15

DEAD OF EXPOSURE

SCHOOLTEACHER'S FATE IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

(Received February 15, 12.45 a.m.) ADELAIDE, February 14. , The body of Mr Ellis Bankin, a Victorian schoolteacher, who had been missing in Central Australia since January 9, has been discovered in the desert. Apparently he died of thirst and exposure. Bankin, who was regarded as one of the most picturesque teachers in the Victorian service, was a real adventurer. He left Alice Springs on a motor-cycle tour of the south-west portion of the territory, to obtain material for a lecture tour of England. He was urged by everyone who saw him to abstain from making the tour, because of the perils and the inhospitable nature of the country, and was warned that it would be a miracle if he returned. Eventually a local settler, Victor Dumas, set but with camels and covered a wide area in a month’s search. To-day he found the body 10 miles from Lynda Vale static n, near the South Australian border. Bankin’s motor-cycle was found beside the body. His empty water-can, some clothing and a camera, were found eight miles away.