Many stories about railways have featured robbery and theft. Western movies regularly had trains robbed and indeed reflected reality to some degree. Britain had its great train robbery yet here in Australia, rarely is the topic ever mentioned, even though Australia has its own Great Train Robbery story.
The Great Northern line of the Commonwealth Railways (CR) or Central Australian Railway (CAR) had several thefts over the years. In July 1928, before the Oodnadatta to Alice Springs line had been completed, a large sum, totalling £3,100 ($6,200) in money and bank notes, was stolen from the brakevan of a train at 61-mile camp north of Oodnadatta. Six hundred men were at that time employed on the construction project but by using an Aboriginal tracker the authorities were able to arrest and convict two men. All the money was recovered, some of which had been buried in a rabbit burrow, the rest being hung in oatmeal bags from trees.
Another incident involved interference with the mail on a train at Hammond (Peterborough to Quorn section) in 1934. The stolen goods were subsequently found buried in three different places along the track. But the main story I wish to tell here, occurred the following year when the recovery of money and conviction of felons was not so successful.
The narrow gauge Ghan was one of those legendary trains that seems to be mentioned anytime a conversation turns to “Australian Rail Adventures”. A lot of history, legend, tall stories and facts of dubious origin abound. Some stories even wander from one location to another, reappearing in various forms at various times, with a wide variety of characters interacting in unusual circumstances to generally produce a comical result. Tales of washaways, delays, wrecked bridges, slow trains and the ups and downs of the Pedirka sandhills abound, yet strangely enough the loss of 34lb of gold in 1935 seems to have been forgotten rather than immortalized in contemporary folklore.
Perhaps no one liked to talk about it because of the embarrassment, or it may just not have seemed worth remembering at the time. The Great Ghan Gold Robbery occurred sometime between 8am on Tuesday 28 May and Thursday 30th May 1935 on the lonely stretch of railway linking Alice Springs with Quorn. A registered mail bag containing a parcel of gold ingots, weighting 34lb (15.4Kg) and valued at £4,000, disappeared from a safe in the brakevan of the “Express”. The “Express” was short for “Northern Express” which was the official name used for the Limited Mixed service that was locally known as “The Ghan”. At the time of the robbery the train was returning to Port Augusta from Alice Springs with the gold locked in the train safe, in the brakevan (Commonwealth Railway brakevans were never referred to as “guard vans”). On arrival at Quorn the gold was found to be missing.
Immediately the newspapers started speculating. Who could have done it? How was it done? Where? When? How did the thieves get away unnoticed? Showing their usual flair for making up a good story, the papers reported the incident extensively. Sensationalism and instant experts on any subject were the order of the day. Some reporters even managed to locate a photograph of Marree station to dazzle their reader about this mysterious remote location.
The major portion of the gold consignment was from the Tennant Creek Granites, Tanami and Winneke mines and had been delivered to Alice Springs by motor car the previous Sunday. An escort of two armed miners had accompanied it. The gold, in a consignment of unmarked registered mail, had been handed to the guard by the Alice Springs Stationmaster 10 minutes before the “Express” departed.
Despite a consignment note that said nothing other than general registered mail, the guard guessed that the package may have been important, due to its weight, and so carefully placed the package in the safe along with the rest of the registered mail. Upon locking the safe, in the presence of the Stationmaster, he place the key in the pocket of his tunic, were it was alleged to have stayed until the train reached Quorn. Sending gold by unmarked registered mail had up until this time been standard practice despite the railway Commissioner expressing some concern to the Post Master Generals Office about the prospect of theft.
The Post Office was not greatly concerned, replying that as their liability was limited £50 ($100) in the event of any register parcel going missing, it was the consigners concern. Naturally nothing was done to improve the situation.
Most train services between Alice Springs and Quorn were operated by two crews, who worked in relay fashion, with guards swapping shift at Rumbalara, Pedirka, Warrina, Beresford, Marree and Parachilna. When not on duty each member of crew would retire to his sleeping quarters located in a composite relay brakevan. A feature of the working of this particular train was that at no stage was the key passed between guards, it stayed in one guard’s possession, even when off duty, until being passed to the Stationmaster at Quorn.
The Great Northern line of the Commonwealth Railways (CR) or Central Australian Railway (CAR) had several thefts over the years. In July 1928, before the Oodnadatta to Alice Springs line had been completed, a large sum, totalling £3,100 ($6,200) in money and bank notes, was stolen from the brakevan of a train at 61-mile camp north of Oodnadatta. Six hundred men were at that time employed on the construction project but by using an Aboriginal tracker the authorities were able to arrest and convict two men. All the money was recovered, some of which had been buried in a rabbit burrow, the rest being hung in oatmeal bags from trees.
Another incident involved interference with the mail on a train at Hammond (Peterborough to Quorn section) in 1934. The stolen goods were subsequently found buried in three different places along the track. But the main story I wish to tell here, occurred the following year when the recovery of money and conviction of felons was not so successful.
The narrow gauge Ghan was one of those legendary trains that seems to be mentioned anytime a conversation turns to “Australian Rail Adventures”. A lot of history, legend, tall stories and facts of dubious origin abound. Some stories even wander from one location to another, reappearing in various forms at various times, with a wide variety of characters interacting in unusual circumstances to generally produce a comical result. Tales of washaways, delays, wrecked bridges, slow trains and the ups and downs of the Pedirka sandhills abound, yet strangely enough the loss of 34lb of gold in 1935 seems to have been forgotten rather than immortalized in contemporary folklore.
Perhaps no one liked to talk about it because of the embarrassment, or it may just not have seemed worth remembering at the time. The Great Ghan Gold Robbery occurred sometime between 8am on Tuesday 28 May and Thursday 30th May 1935 on the lonely stretch of railway linking Alice Springs with Quorn. A registered mail bag containing a parcel of gold ingots, weighting 34lb (15.4Kg) and valued at £4,000, disappeared from a safe in the brakevan of the “Express”. The “Express” was short for “Northern Express” which was the official name used for the Limited Mixed service that was locally known as “The Ghan”. At the time of the robbery the train was returning to Port Augusta from Alice Springs with the gold locked in the train safe, in the brakevan (Commonwealth Railway brakevans were never referred to as “guard vans”). On arrival at Quorn the gold was found to be missing.
Immediately the newspapers started speculating. Who could have done it? How was it done? Where? When? How did the thieves get away unnoticed? Showing their usual flair for making up a good story, the papers reported the incident extensively. Sensationalism and instant experts on any subject were the order of the day. Some reporters even managed to locate a photograph of Marree station to dazzle their reader about this mysterious remote location.
The major portion of the gold consignment was from the Tennant Creek Granites, Tanami and Winneke mines and had been delivered to Alice Springs by motor car the previous Sunday. An escort of two armed miners had accompanied it. The gold, in a consignment of unmarked registered mail, had been handed to the guard by the Alice Springs Stationmaster 10 minutes before the “Express” departed.
Despite a consignment note that said nothing other than general registered mail, the guard guessed that the package may have been important, due to its weight, and so carefully placed the package in the safe along with the rest of the registered mail. Upon locking the safe, in the presence of the Stationmaster, he place the key in the pocket of his tunic, were it was alleged to have stayed until the train reached Quorn. Sending gold by unmarked registered mail had up until this time been standard practice despite the railway Commissioner expressing some concern to the Post Master Generals Office about the prospect of theft.
The Post Office was not greatly concerned, replying that as their liability was limited £50 ($100) in the event of any register parcel going missing, it was the consigners concern. Naturally nothing was done to improve the situation.
Most train services between Alice Springs and Quorn were operated by two crews, who worked in relay fashion, with guards swapping shift at Rumbalara, Pedirka, Warrina, Beresford, Marree and Parachilna. When not on duty each member of crew would retire to his sleeping quarters located in a composite relay brakevan. A feature of the working of this particular train was that at no stage was the key passed between guards, it stayed in one guard’s possession, even when off duty, until being passed to the Stationmaster at Quorn.