[http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110483b.htm]
RUBIN, MARK (1867?-1919), pearl dealer and pastoralist, and BERNARD (1896-1936), sportsman, were father and son. Mark was born probably in 1867 at Salantai in the province of Kovno, Russia (Lithuania), son of Louis Rubinstein, medical practitioner, and his wife Hannah, née Smitkin. He left Russia as a young man and lived for a time at Cardiff, Wales, before reaching Sydney in December 1886. He moved to Melbourne in February 1887. With little English, he worked at odd jobs, including a spell as a wharf labourer, before investing his savings in haberdashery which he hawked round the city in a wheelbarrow. After acquiring a horse and buggy he extended his business into country areas. For several years he was an opal miner and dealer at White Cliffs, New South Wales. On returning to Melbourne, he was naturalized in January 1893. He became a jeweller and married Rebecca, daughter of Woolf Davis, a well-known figure in the Melbourne Jewish community, on 23 October 1895 at Carlton.
Soon after 1900 Mark moved to Broome, Western Australia, centre of the pearling industry, where he quickly became a leading pearl dealer, travelling yearly to London. He also owned a large pearling fleet. About 1901 the family moved to London, although Mark continued to spend most of his time in Australia. Believing that war in Europe was inevitable and that wool would be more in demand than pearls, he bought several large sheep stations in 1912-13, including de Grey and Warrawagine near Port Hedland, Western Australia, and Northampton Downs in Queensland. He also transferred his pearl-dealing business to London and Paris. Mark died at Fontainebleau, France, on 6 November 1919, leaving a fortune. His will requested that he be buried in the Jewish cemetery, Melbourne, and a special request was entered that his family return to live in Australia and his sons marry without delay and take an active interest in Jewish communal affairs. The running of the family business was left to his younger son Harold de Vahl (1899-1964), who achieved fame as an art collector and philanthropist.
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Select Bibliography
J. S. Battye (ed), The History of the North West of Australia (Perth, 1915); H. Birkin, Full Throttle (Lond, 1932); O. Cathcart-Jones, Aviation Memoirs (Lond, 1934); I. L. Idriess, Forty Fathoms Deep (Syd, 1937); J. D. Benjafield, The Bentleys of Le Mans (Abingdon, Eng, 1948); A. F. C. Hillstead, Those Bentley Days (Lond, 1953); N. Bartlett, The Pearl Seekers (Lond, 1954); D. Berthon, A Racing History of the Bentley (1921-31) (Lond, 1956); W. O. Bentley, An Illustrated History of the Bentley Car 1919-1931 (Lond, 1964); E. Nagle, The Other Bentley Boys (Lond, 1964); W. O. Bentley, My Life and My Cars (Lond, 1967); A. Swinson, The Great Air Race (Lond, 1968); M. A. Bain, Full Fathom Five (Perth, 1982); H. Edwards, Port of Pearls (Adel, 1983); E. P. Wixted, The North-West Aerial Frontier 1919-1934 (Brisb, 1985); Autocar, 26 Oct 1928, 3 July 1936, 10 June 1978; Australian Jewish Herald, 14 Oct 1921; Argus, 6 Apr, 3 May 1934; Sydney Morning Herald, 11 Apr 1934, 7 Mar 1964, 4 Oct 1972, 16 Apr 1983; Times (London), 2 May 1934, 1, 4 July 1936; Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), 20 Oct 1957; West Australian, 30 July 1963; Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 7 Mar 1964; Courier Mail (Brisbane), 4 Feb 1966; Daily Mirror (Sydney), 21 Apr 1977. More on the resources
Author: John Playford
Print Publication Details: John Playford, 'Rubin, Mark (1867? - 1919)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, 1988, pp 474-475.
