
By Carol Baxter
It was once the biggest financial institution theft in Australian historical past. On Sunday 14 September 1828, thieves tunnelled via a sewage drain into the vault of Sydney's financial institution of Australia and stole 14 000 in notes and funds - the similar of $20 million in latest foreign money. This audacious staff of convicts not just defied the weekly exhortation 'thou shalt no longer steal!', they specific the financial institution owned by means of the colony's self-anointed the Aristocracy.
Delighted at this affront to their betters, Sydney's principally felony and ex-criminal inhabitants did all they can to undermine the experts' makes an attempt to seize the robbers and retrieve the spoils. whereas the determined financial institution administrators provided more and more huge rewards and the govt officials forged longing appears on the gallows, the robbers persisted to elude detection. Then in the future .
With a wealthy solid of characters who refused to abase themselves to the institution, this meticulously researched and fast moving background tells the tale of the bold financial institution of Australia theft and of the scheming robbers, grasping receivers and unlucky suspects whose lives have been irrevocably replaced via this outrageous crime.
On An impossible to resist Temptation
'. a piece that captures the reader. . . a great instance of ways an outstanding tale can remove darkness from the past.' - affiliate Professor Gregory Melleuish, Australian Literary Review
'. [told] with a very good eye for the advanced motivations, either political and private, of characters [Baxter] paints a vibrant photograph of Jane New's world.' - Dr Kirsten McKenzie, Sydney Morning Herald
'. [a] vibrant social history.' Canberra Times