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Australian culture and language as a whole owes more to Jim Bancks than it realises. Bancks most famous creation, Ginger Meggs, has gone down in folklore as one of the longest running strips of all time, and in it’s time managed to introduce words such as Ocker and nicknames, such as Ginger himself, into the vernacular. Bancks also took Ginger worldwide, and during his lifetime, he saw Ginger becomes one of, if not the, biggest success that Australian cartoons have ever seen. Such was the impact of Ginger than when Us Fellers, the original strip’s title, went from black and white to colour, it became news, and when Ginger was slated to appear in the (Adelaide) Mail for the first time, it became front page news, unheard of at the time, sharing with the likes of Phar Lap winning a (then) record amount of money and the imminent passing of Dame Nellie Melba.

When Bancks passed away in 1952, there was a public outpouring of grief and, again, the news was reported, Australia wide, generally on front pages, with people both grieving for Bancks and also wondering what would become of Meggsy. It very nearly wasn’t that way. In 1951 Bancks would not only fight for what he believed to be right, but also for the right to own Ginger Meggs and his myriad of supporting characters, and what’s more, he won, setting a legal precedent that is still referred to today.