1928 – Leslie Wren Ellis was a waterside worker who perhaps should have stayed waterside.
He planned to buy a fishing boat which was moored in water off the town of Thevenard, South Australia. The best way to inspect it was to swim out to it, and although his friends advised him not to do so, he persisted.
Leslie was known to be good swimmer, according to newspaper reports after his naked body was found four days later washed up kilometres to the north, between Ceduna and Denial Bay. His wife had reported him missing. His clothes were found on a nearby cliff top, opposite the boat he had wanted to visit. No coroner’s inquiry was deemed necessary, and it was assumed he had suffered fatal cramping.
He left a widow and a small child and is buried in the Willowie Garden of Memories cemetery, 500km east of Thevenard.
SOURCES:
The Advertiser Wednesday 21 November 1928 p 26
West Coast Sentinel, Friday 23 November 1928 – Page 6
Way to go Australia 