From Australia’s Jewish Past: Bernard Rubin – racing driver and pilot
Bernard was born in Carlton, Melbourne, on 6 December 1896.
Bernard Rubin
He was the eldest son of Mark and Rebecca, Mark having arrived in Sydney from Russia in December 1886 and then moved on to Melbourne in February 1887. In the early 1900s, the family moved to Broome, where Bernard started his education. The family then moved to England, where Bernard attended the University College School Hampstead London from 1911 to 1916 and completed his schooling. From February 1916, he served in the Royal Garrison Artillery Special Reserve and in June 1917, was commissioned. He was so severely wounded in France that it was three years before he could walk again. Following his father’s death, Bernard became the owner of Northampton Downs Station, a sizeable cattle property in Queensland as well as other properties in the Northern Territory, which he visited in 1921 and 1932. He enjoyed travel and took himself off to Africa and India to shoot big game. He had an interest in motor racing, and it was on his return that he pursued this.
A close friendship with Woolf Barnato, the managing director of Bentley Motors, led to Bernard becoming one of the ‘Bentley Boys’ – sporting young men of independent means whose colourful style of living became legendary. The two lived in adjoining townhouses in Grosvenor Square, London. He made his driving debut at Brooklands, England, in 1928, where he finished in sixth place before his debut appearance at the ‘’24 Hours of Le Mans’’ – an endurance-focused sports car race – held annually near Le Mans, France. Bernard and Woolf won the event in a Bentley despite the car being damaged during the race. Bernard was the first Australian to win this race and certainly the first Jewish Australian. This race was not won by another Australian until 1983. He raced again in Le Mans in 1929, but his car failed after only seven laps.
Bernard continued to race, and in July 1929, he came eighth in the Irish Grand Prix. Unfortunately, he was not so lucky when he raced in August 1929. His Bentley overturned on the first lap during the RAC (Royal Automobile Club UK) Tourism Trophy and Bernard was injured. He next turned to team ownership and helped fund the racing efforts of another of the Bentley Boys – Sir Henry Birkin. In 1933, they shared the wheel of an MG K3 in the famous Mille Miglia Italian race and won their class before Henry raced Bernard’s Alfa Romeo. Henry later drove Bernard’s Maserati 3000 in the Tripoli Grand Prix in May 1933, and whilst leaning over for a cigarette during a pit stop, he burnt his forearm on the exhaust and died five weeks later after contracting septicaemia.
In April 1934, Bernard took up flying and flew to Australia in a Leopard Moth with Keith Waller to make ground preparations for the Centenary Air Race from London to Melbourne in October. Their return flight from Darwin of eight days and 12 hours was not officially timed but was ten hours faster than Amy Johnson’s husband Jim Mollison’s record. Bernard entered his new de Havilland Comet for the race but was unable to compete because of sickness. Keith and another colleague, Owen Cathcart-Jones, finished fourth in the Comet and, returning to England, set a round-trip record of one hundred and thirty flying hours.
Bernard married Audrey Mary Simpson in Paris on 29 March 1935 and returned to England, where he bought the Old Cloth Hall, a magnificent fifteenth-century home in Cranbrook, Kent. He died of pulmonary tuberculosis following surgery on 27 June 1936. His body was returned to Melbourne, where he was buried. He was remembered as a tall, gentle, and friendly sportsman in motor racing and flying circles.
There will be more to hear next week about the Rubin family.
The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:
Australian Dictionary of Biography – John Playford; Wikipedia; National Library of Australia; HistoricRacing.com
