Background
He was a son of an Oxford clergyman of the Church of England.
He was a son of an Oxford clergyman of the Church of England.
He arrived in South Australia from England on the Buckinghamshire on 22 March 1839, listed as "Captain Ellis", though on what basis it is not known, and in company of a George In 1855 he purchased Allen"s share. This area includes the land later known as Buckland Park, which he sold to Doctor J. H. Browne and Colonel P. J. Browne in 1856.
He took up the nearby Hummocks run in 1842,and Barabba, north-east of Mallala, South Australia, in August 1844.
He bought land in New Zealand. Starting in 1851, he purchased over 50,000 freehold acres in the Hundreds of Benara and Blanche, between Mount Gambier and Portuguese MacDonnell and 34 square miles of leasehold land, where he ran some 73,000 sheep, He purchased the remainder of Benara (originally spelled Benaira) and an adjacent station, Coola comprising 22,000 acres of freehold and 36,000 acres of leasehold, from the South Australian Company in 1875.
Managers The general manager of most of his properties, and largely responsible for his good fortune, was Hugh Cameron (caMay 1796 – 10 June 1884). Born in the Braes of Rannoch, Scotland, he is reported as arriving in South Australia early in 1838, but perhaps arrived on the Thomas Harrison 25 February 1839, or the Lady Bute 18 June 1839.
The Hundred of Cameron was named for him.
In June 1851 he accepted the petition of a number of electors for the seat of Flinders in the reconstituted Legislative Council, and in August 1851 became one of the first sixteen elected parliamentarians in South Australia. A brother arrived in Adelaide on the Lord Glenelg on 10 May 1841. eldest son John Chute Ellis (ca1847 – 8 August 1926) served with the 13th Huzzars in England and Canada, lived for a time at Benara, purchased Merrivale station on the South Island of New Zealand, then shifted to Tasmania. second son Thomas Chute Ellis (28 December 1848 – 21 December 1920) was born at Bayley"s Garden in Adelaide, educated at Saint Peter"s College then Charterhouse and Henley Royal Grammar School. He returned to Australia in 1869 and lived at Benara, taking charge of all his father"s investments in Australia and New Zealand.
In 1883 gave the tower and clock of the Mount Gambier Town Hall at a cost of £1,000.
(ca1886 – 29 November 1932).