A Gold heist in Australia 1878?

A Gold heist in Australia 1878?

12 September 202219 June 2024 Author

It seems to be a criminal familymember in the Sundheim ancestry, that could not resist the temptation of committing a serious crime, or, as the information of the case might suggest, there may be several other people involved in the theft. According to an article in the australian “Victoria Police Gazette” on 22 jan 1879, a norwegian ships carpenter, Martin Wiberg escaped from prison on the 20 Dec 1878. A £50,- reward was offered for his capture, which was a quite high reward at the time. This was to be known as the “Wiberg Robbery”, and became one of the most famous robberies in Australian history. To this day people are searching for the remaining gold sovereign coins, since less than 1/4 of the stolen sovereigns was recovered. Another question we seek to answer in this article is: Could there be any living decendents after the brothers Martin & Mathias “Matthew” Olsen Viberg, and the half-brother Fritjof Jacobsen?

Martin was arrested for allegedly to have stolen 5000 Gold Sovereigns of the Royal Mail Steamer “R.M.S Avoca” on her journey from Sydney to Melbourne. He escaped from capture, but was arrested again near Cape Patterson and centenced to 5 years in the HM Pentridge Prison for “The Weiberg Robbery”. Only about 1500 Gold Sovereigns has been recovered, which could suggest that other people after all had some part in this robbery, and/or that some 3500 “bullions” gold Sovereigns are still hidden in some secret hidingplace at Inverloch near Melbourne, Victoria.

(Cover photo, Martin Wiberg from Australian prisoner records 1880)

Martin Wiberg, 28 year old. According to the Police Gazette, he came to the colonies with the ship “Robert Henderson” in 1873. According to another record on Ancestry, Martin Wiberg, ablebodied seaman, age 21, arrived from London to Sydney with the ship “John Duthie” in August 1872. According to other records on Ancestry.com, Martin was married to Rosina Brackley in 1875. As records shows, Rosina was also employed onboard the P&O Co “Ellora” and the “Avoca”, and we can assume they first met onboard one of these ships.

Martin Wiberg was born in Åsgårdstrand, Norway in 1851. He was son of baker Mons Olsen Viberg b.1822 og Maren Evensdatter b.1827. He was Great Grandson to Erik Andersen Sundem b.1774. Martin became an ablebodied seaman and went to sea about 1868, and his brother Mathias followed suit in 1872. According to his norwegian seamans’s records, he “escaped” a vessel in 1871, and that was the last on record in Norway.

In the norwegian national census for Åsgårdstrand in 1875, it is noted that Martin Wiberg is in Australia, which makes it very likely this is the same person as the robber. In addition, the census shows Martins half-brother Frithiof Jacobsen b.1859 (aka Frithjof Edvard Jacobsen or Fred Jacobsen), listed as a seaman and also currently in Australia. This fits with information that there was a 3rd brother mentioned in some of the newspapaer stories. The two brother probably came to the colonies about the time when Martin was realeased from prison in 1883. The brother, Matthew sailed the yacht “Neva” after this was purchased, and who was questioned onboard by police, since they were still searching for the remainder of the gold sovereigns. They were all sailors of the lowest ranks, and would never be able to afford such a vessel, so ofcourse they had access to some of the gold to purchase and operate this yacht.

Martin was living i Wellington Park, Williamstown, Victoria, Australia in 1877

Martin Wiberg re-captured by Detective Edelsten and Policeman Taylor

What was the fate of the Vibergs in Australia?

Others have been wondering. Found this very interesting website at martinwiberg.net

According to the website, Martin Wieberg was released from prison in 1883. Afterwards he made his way to Hobart where he joined his brother Matthew Olsen onboard his newly purchased yacht “Neva“, they sailed back to Warratah Bay. After some strange circumstances while trying to escape police yet again, Martin alledgedly drowned during an attempt to get across to an island where his yacht was waiting. Then escapeplan included to bring his wife and daughters to his yacht “Neva” and go to New Zeeland. In the process, his wife & daughters refused to go with him. After this event, his body was never recovered, and many rumors was formed that he had joined some sailing vessel and escaped to Europe. Martin and Rosina had two children: Ethel Christina Wiberg, and Lena Martina Wiberg. Martin’s wife Rosina Brackley remarried Master Mariner John Leith in 1884, and the children survived. Ethel married Peter Pescia in 1902, and Lena married John Middleton Siggins in 1910.

The brother Matthew Olsen, aka Mathias Olsen Viberg, married Margaret McDonald on the 3rd January 1888 and they lived at Waratah Bay. They had 2 children, Martin and Mathilda. According to news reports, Matthew died by accident while fishing at Warrath Bay in 1886. The son Martin passed away in 1901, while Mathilda survived and married Joseph Wilding in 1914. Joseph & Mathilda had 4 childrten. Matthew Olson is buried at the Waratha Bay historic cemetary.

The half-brother Frithiof Edvard Jacobsen (aka Fred Jacobsen), possibly the person mentioned onboard the “Neva” called “J.Brown”, has not been found in any records since. There is a possible match to a “Fred Jacobsen” in Alaska USA, and there is no confirmation that Fred ever returned to Norway. Any hints regarding Frithiof Jacobsen would be much appreciated, so please get in touch! Could it be that also he settled in Australia at the time?

What really happened to the father, Mons Olsen Viberg?

An important question is: what really happened to their father, Mons Olsen Viberg? It is very likely that this story started with a dramatic event long before the sons sailed out into the world. The father dissapeared sometime between the birth of Mathias in 1855 and the national census in 1865. The father is not listed in the census, but in the census notes is is written: “The husband, Baker M.Viberg is abroad”. Later, in the national census for 1875, the wife is listed as Widow, and the mother and a daughter is now supported by the Communal Poverty Services. In May 1855 it seems that baker Viberg is bankrupt, and travels abroud shortly after. In 1864 the wife Maren Evensdatter is seeking the courts for a divorse, since the husband have been dissappered since he left home in June 1855.

Det Norske Rigstidende 27 June 1864 – Divorse by court order

Martin & Matthew had a sister, Olufine Mathilde b.1853, back in Norway. They also had a half-brother, Frithjof Edvard Jacobsen b.1859 (aka, Fred or Fritjow I. Cederberg) , who also became a sailor. The mother and the daughter is found in the censuses 1900 & 1910, and they are living in a poverty shelter, just barely managing. The mother Maren passed away in 1914, and Oluffine passed away in 1920, still unmaried. This poverty started basically when the sons went to sea, and may very well be some of the reason/motivation for the desparate deed of the theft, who knows?

Message to all conspiracy seekers

The narrator of this website have researched the ancestry of the Vibergs, and nothing indicates that Martin ever returned to Norway, or Sweden, that some source seems to have indicated. Martin worked on various norwegian merchant vessels until he ran away from his last vessel in Swansea, UK in Sep 1871, and then he is not seen in Norway again. A Martin Wiberg, AB, age 21 is crew on the “John Duthie, arriving from London to Sydney in Aug 1872. He works as a carpenter on the RMS Avoca for a few years and become the famous “Gold Robber of the Avoca”. His younger brother Mathias (Matthew) was also a sailor on norwegian vessels. He seemed to have a longer career on norwegian vessels from 1871 until 1882. It seems he may have signed off a vessel in Australia on 4th July 1882, probably trying to reunite with his older brother.

What is maybe puzzeling is how Mathias supposedly owned a ship, the small cutter Neva, at such a young age, when his brother was realeased from prison. They came from a very poor upbringing, as they lost their father while in their teens. The mother and their sister was living at the national census of 1910, still supported by the communal poverty services. A theory is that the stolen gold very possible was a desparate attempt to grab a unique opportunity as the carpenter onboard the Avoca, and possibly bring this fortune back to Norway and “rescue” their mother and sister from really unfortunate circumstances. On the other hand, Martin married in 1875, and had two daughters. His own new family may of course also be the main motivation. There is of course no excuses, but that is probably closer to the truth than anything else. Obviously the ship “Neva” that the brother seem to have, was probably obtained from the possession of the gold, or possibly other bad deeds, because the brothers were not well paid marine officers, just merely young ablebodied seamen Records also showed that Matthiew first arrived in Australia in 1881. It was mentioned that Martin had two brothers onbard a ship at the time of his release from jail. The facts may support this claim, since the norwegian census for 1875 is stating that both brothers Frithiof and Matthew are in Australia. The younger half-brother Frithiof was working on norwegian vessels until abt 1894 according to norwegian seamans records. However, the final destiny of the half-brother Frithiof is yet to be determined. There is no proof to support that Martin survived the famous swim across the “Andersons Inlet” of Inverloch in Victoria, because there is (so far) no evidence to support such a claim. That should be good news for those still searching for the remaining gold sovereigns in the area of Inverloch. Another funfact is how the amount of gold sovereigns grev from the original 5000 to 15000 coins in the newspaper reports.

If you are in any way related to Martin & Matthew Olsen Wiberg and their decendents, kindly get in touch via the contact form please.

THE BULLION ROOM – THE STORY HOW THE THEFT WAS MASTERMINDED

Martin was employed as the Avoca’s carpenter. As the ships carpenter, he had been asked to repair the lock on the bullion room door, and when doing so, he took an imprint of the key in wax.

He then had access to the Bullion Room where he crafted a secret hatch that allowed him to enter the room without being seen by navigating the hidden tunnels of the ship.

The trip from Sydney to Melbourne encountered stormy weather which provided the perfect cover to muffle any sounds that he might make in extracting the sovereigns. When everyone was asleep he entered the bullion room and with a cold-chisel carefully pried open a box marked “X.O.X”. Inside the box was sawdust, and underneath a smaller box with seals. Martin took a hot knife and melted the wax on the seals before removing the sovereigns. He then restored the boxes to near original condition so that his deed would not be detected until long after he had left the ship at Williamstown.

(Text and copyrights from martinwiberg.net website)

Vessel arrivals – Immigration records for Martin

“John Duthie”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 30.08.1872 (this seems to be the actual first arrival of Martin Viberg to Australia, and not with the vessel “Robert Henderson” in 1873 as described in the “Victoria Police Gazette” in 1879)
“Ellora”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 01.06.1875
“Ellora”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 26.07.1875
“Ellora”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 25.08.1875
“Ellora”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 21.09.1875
“Ellora”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 19.10.1875
“Ellora”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 16.11.1875
“Ellora”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 20.12.1875
“Ellora”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 14.01.1876
“Ellora”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 18.02.1876
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 28.06.1876
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 06.07.1876
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 24.07.1876
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 04.08.1876
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 21.08.1876
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 31.08.1876
“Avoca”, departure Albany 13.09.1876
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 26.07.1877
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 20.08.1877
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 15.09.1877
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 28.09.1877
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 27.10.1877
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 15.11.1877
“Avoca”, arrival Sydney from Melborne 06.12.1877

Transcript Illustrated Australia News 3 Oct 1877 – LOSS OF 5000 SOVEREIGNS

The detectives have received information by telegram that a box containing £5000 in sovereigns, which was transhipped to the s. China from the s. Avoca, had been missed from the former vessel on her arrival at Galle. It was thought that the missing specie had been by some mistake brought back by the Avoca, and on her arrival here on Sept. 4 the authorities subjected her to a rigorous search, but did not find any trace of the missing treasure. It appears that six boxes of gold, five of which were intended for England and one for Galle, were brought by the s. Avoca from Sydney in the charge of Mr. Roache, the second officer. On reaching Melbourne, the gold was transferred to the China, and Mr.Roache also went in charge of them. When the vessel reached Galle, the box was missed. No doubt is entertained now that a cleverly planned robbery has been carried into effect. The bullion room, in which the boxes of gold were kept, has been entered, doubtless by means of its proper key, as there is no sign of any forcible entry. The box, however, is not missing, but the contents have been abstracted in the coolest and most methodical manner possible. The gold was deposited in a bank box, which was itself securely packed in another, box belonging to the company, and sealed in the usual manner. The seals have been cut through, and the screws of the outer box taken out and subsequently replaced, while the inner box was boldly smashed to atoms, and the precious metal stolen. The thieves must have been thoroughly acquainted with the locale of the bullion room, and the routine observed on board the vessel. The Ioss was not discovered until the landing of the boxes, when the difference in the weight of the box in question led to an examination. It is generally believed that the deed was done after the transshipment of the gold in Melbourne.

Transcript The Mercury 4 May 1878 – FOR SALE

The Splendid New Yacht ” NEVA,” built by Macquarie, with all her sails and gear Complete. For further particulars apply to A. E. RISBY, 3937 Franklin Wharf flaw Mills.

Transcript from the The Argus 31 Oct 1878 – The Robbery of Gold from the Avoca

Shortly after the arrest of Martin Wiberg on suspicion of having stolen 5,000 sovereigns from the bullion room of the R.M.S Avoca of which vessel he was carpenter at the time, the press were in possession of certain information pointing to the fact that some other person holding a responsible position onboard the vessel at the time the offence was committed had acted in confederacy with Wiberg in abstracting the sovereigns from the treasure-room. Indeed, as a matter of fact, it became known that Wiberg, on finding that he had nothing to gain by remaining silent in the matter, made a full confession of the whole affair, implicating Elliston, the chief officer of the vessel, who appears to have acted as the prime mover in the robbery, having first taken Wiberg into his confidence. On the strength of the carpenter’s confession an information was accordingly sworn against Elliston, who is at present in England, and particulars of the affair were at once telegraphed home, with the view of acquainting the P. and O. Company in London in order that a warrant might be issued for the arrest of Elliston. For obvious reasons, therefore, an understanding was arrived at to the effect that the full facts ofthe case in connexion with Wiberg’s confession should for the present, at all events, be withheld from publication; but from what would appear to have been a breach of faith on the part of a section of the press, that understanding has been violated, and it is therefore considered that there is no longer any necessity to withhold further information in relation to the plain facts of the case. Wiberg’s confession, which may be taken for what it is worth, distinctly points to the chief officer (Elliston) as being the principal perpetrator of the robbery, and moreover that he had suggested the robbery to Wiberg, the carpenter, on the voyage of the Avoca from Sydney to Melbourne. Elliston, whose cabin was in close proximity to the bullion-room, had charge of the keys by which access could be obtained to the treasure, and having secretly apprised Wiberg of his intentions, Elliston fixed upon a rough and stormy night for the purpose of effecting the robbery. The working of the machinery was making a loud noise, and the passengers had turned in for the night. Taking with them a dark lantern, Elliston and the carpenter went down the hatchway to the bullionroom, and having entered with as little noise as possible, one of the six boxes containing the treasure was selected by Elliston. The outer case having been ingeniously opened and the seals around the inner box broken, Elliston handed the contents of the box, consisting of five canvas bags, containing altogether 5,000 sovereigns to Wiberg, who placed them in the chief officer’s cabin. The outer box was effectually closed again so as to avoid detection, and the door of the bullion room having been carefully locked again, the chief officer regained his cabin. No person on board observed the occurrence and the transaction was completed without causing the slightest suspicion. By a previous arrangement Wiberg went into Elliston’s cabin the following evening, and the door having been closed, the chief officer handed Wiberg one of the bags, containing about 200 sovereigns, as his share of the proceeds of the robbery. As Wiberg’s confession implicated the chief officer, it was considered absolutely necessary to keep the matter quiet, as Elliston’s wife and another relative who is conversant with the affair, were still in the colony, and it would only be reasonable to suppose that Elliston would probably be warned by cable of the confession made by Wiberg, in time to enable him effect his escape. It is, however, believed that the ends of justice will not be defeated by the undue publication of the facts of the case, since the officers of Scotland-yard will doubtless have been apprised of the facts ere this.

Trancript of Australian Town and Country Journal 2 NOV 1878 – PART OF 5000 SYDNEY SOVEREIGNS DISCOVERED

MELBOURNE, Monday.-Fourteen months since, in August, 1877, considerable excitement was caused by the announcement that on the arrival of the R.M.S. China at Point de Gaile, from Melbourne and Sydney, it was found that a great robbery of sovereigns had been committed. A number of boxes of specie were landed at Point de Gaile, and on examination it was found that one of those shipped at Sydney, which contained five thousand sovereigns, had been opened some time during the course of transmission, and the whole of its contents abstracted. Owing to unusual difficulties, it was found impossible to trace the treasure, or even to arrive at anything like a satisfactory opinion as to the perpetrators.
At that time the Avoca was engaged as the branch mail steamer between Sydney and Melbourne, and as such brought the Sydney shipments of specie and bullion to Melbourne, where they were trans-shipped, as it was supposed, to the Avoca. There was no evidence to show whether the transshipment of the case had properly taken place, consequently the question was whether the robbery took place on board the Avoca, or the China. This complicated matters to such an extent that the detectives found great difficulty in obtaining any clue to the perpetrators of the crime. Inquiries were made, however, the result of which revealed sufficient to convince the officers that the guilty parties belonged to one or other of the two ships’ companies, and they reported as much to the P&O Co., and at the same time the police authorities at all ports of call between Melbourne and Gaile were communicated with, but the inquiries instituted at Adelaide and King George’s Sound failed to elicit anything that could throw light on the matter. The company, however, acting upon the opinion of the detectives of Victoria, discharged a number of officers and petty officers of both ships. Although the robbery quickly sank out of public sight, the detectives never lost an opportunity of seeking such information as would assist them in further search. Inspector Secretan and Detective Mackay, the principal officers engaged in the case, persistently pursued inquiries. Among the persons discharged from the Avoca was the shim’s carpenter, a Norwegian named Martin Wiberg. Although all hopes of satisfactorily clearing up the mystery appeared to be at an end, the officers mentioned continued inquiries. They at last received information which led them to the conclusion that it would be no waste of time to watch the movements of this man Wiberg, as just prior to the robbery he had married a housemaid employed at au hotel at Williamstown. He appears to be a man of considerable energy, and besides being an excellent ship’s carpenter is well up in navigation and seamanship, as evidenced by the fact that after his discharge from the Avoca he procured a large open boat, put a tool box on board, and having supplied himself with necessary provisions, set sail by himself, and in that frail boat passed through the Heads. He steered an easterly course, doubled Wilson’s Promontory, and safely arrived at the mouth of the Tarwin River. He then steered up the river/and succeeded in finding a placé to his liking, his object being to select land and prepare a home for his wife. He discovered suitable land, took up two selections, one consisting of 100 acres, the other about twenty acres. The latter was situated quite close to the larger allotment on this land. Wiberg has been living there for some time. After erecting a tolerably comfortable wattle and dab house and clearing some land, he got his wife and child up to live with him. Inquiries as to the whereabouts and doings of Wiberg placed, Secretan and Mackay in possession of all these facts, and a clue as to his being the guilty person in connection with the robbery having been obtained elsewhere, it was decided to test the value of the information received. In order to do this it was necessary to proceed to Wiberg’s selection. Inspector Secretan, Detective Mackay, and Senior-constable O’Meara started more than a week since, their destination being the selection of the suspected man. This was found to be situated in a wild, almost inaccessible part in South Gippsland. Tarwin river empties itself into Corner Inlet, and is a stream of rather inconsiderable proportions. The officers had information that Wiberg was a most determined man, and that from what had been seen of his house and contents, it was evident that if an attempt was made to capture him he would resist, and from the nature of the country, and the knowledge he has acquired of it, he would have a fair chance of escape. The officers decided to proceed to the spot, but were saved much anticipated trouble for on the second day out, after crossing Powlett River, they camped in the afternoon, when the man they wanted rode up quite unexpectedly, and was at once recognized. After a short conversation, he was suddenly arrested. On searching him a number of sovereigns were found in his possession. He stated he had intended investing them in a craft to trade between Melbourne and Tarwin River. The party then proceeded on to his selection, having first taken the prisoner back to Griffiths’ Point, and lodged him in the lock-up. Then, in order to reach the selection, it was found necessary to cross a number of creeks, some of which they had to swim. On arrival at the house of the prisoner a minute search was instituted by the officers, who were once more successful, and discovered another parcel of sovereigns. These were secreted in the ends of a carpenter’s plane about three feet long. A hole had been bored in the plane to the depth of about two feet from one end, the sovereigns being carefully placed in the hole and neatly plugged up. The plane when found was lying about among other tools. Altogether about 200 sovereigns are recovered. The detectives are sanguine as to being able to recover nearly the whole of the missing treasure. From all the circumstances it is evident that the theft was committed during the passage of the Avoca to Melbourne, the prisoner (Wiberg), by some means, gaining ad mission to the treasure room, and opening a box which contained the sovereigns. He must have extracted them, carefully supplying their place with some heavy material, and closing the box up again so neatly that it could not be noticed that it had been tampered with. On arriving at Melbourne he had ample opportunity to remove the booty, as the Avoca remained here some time. The prisoner was frequently ashore, and suspicion could not have been aroused, as the robbery was not reported until a month afterwards. Wiberg therefore easily removed the concealed sovereigns. Prisoner was left in the lock-up at Griffiths’ Point until he could be taken before the local bench, and remanded to Melbourne, Senior constable O’Meara remaining behind. Inspector Secretan and Detective Mackay returned to Melbourne on Saturday. Prisoner was taken before the magistrates, and remanded to Melbourne. He arrived in the metropolis this morning in custody of Senior-Constable O’Meara, and was at once taken before the City Bench, and remanded for a week. He has made a confession which, for the ends of justice, it is necessary to suppress for the present.
MELBOURNE, Wednesday.-The man Wiberg, in charge for the Avoca gold robberies, confesses that the officer was the principal offender, and allowed him access to the bullion-room. He pays he got only five hundred pounds for his share.

South Bourke and Mornington Journal 21 May 1879 – “THE AVOCA GOLD ROBBERY – RE-ARREST OF WIBERG”

The robbery of 5000 sovereigns from the mail steamer Avoca will long be remembered as one of the most sensational thefts perpetrated in this part of the world, because of the succession of strange incidents which followed the robbery, which was committed on board of the Avoca between Sydney and Melbourne, or on board the China between Melbourne and Ceylon. For some time the circumstances surrounding the robbery were enshrouded in mystery, which was eventually overcome by Detective Mackey, who obtained information which led him to believe that Martin Wiberg, who had been engaged in the Avoca as ship’s carpenter, but had subsequently been discharged, was the culprit. Acting on that information, Detective Mackey, with Inspector Secretan, proceeded to the Tarwin river, where Wiberg had taken up a selection, and arrested him. In his hut they found a quantity of the stolen sovereigns, and the prisoner was then brought to Melbourne. Soon after the arrest he made a statement in which he asserted that he and Elliston, the chief mate of the Avoca, had effected the robbery and shared the plunder. Believing that his story was a true one, Detective Mackey proceeded to England to arrest Elliston. He succeeded in the object of his visit, but Elliston was discharged because of the want of evidence to warrant his being sent to Victoria, and Mackey had to return to Victoria without him. In the meantime Wiberg, professing to make a clean breast of the whole affair, professed his ability to point out where more of the stolen property had been secreted in the Tarwin River. Inspector Secretan believed his story, and took the prisoner to the Tarwin river, he being accompanied by Detectives Duncan and Mahony. The story of his escape whilst searching for the hidden sovereigns is well-known, and since that time no positive intelligence concerning the escape has been made public, although as a matter of fact the detectives knew some thing concerning his movements, and were aware that he had not succeeded in leaving the colony. It was not, however, until about three weeks ago that that opinion was formed, and it was the action of Wiberg’s agents in Melbourne which first caused the surmise. The capture was effected near the Eagle’s Nest, Cape Patterson, on Friday last, by Detective Edelston and Mounted Constable Taylor. These officers were sent to that part of the country more than a fortnight ago, and every credit is due to them for the manner in which they per formed their duty in searching the country, undergoing, as they state, great privations After searching thirteen days the vigilance of Edelston and his companion was rewarded. On Thursday they discovered footprints in the sand of the sea shore near Anderson’s Inlet, and these footprints led them to form the opinion that the person who had left the marks behind had swum across the inlet towards Cape Patterson Suspecting, that they were on Wiberg’s track, they on the following day went to the other side of the inlet, and whilst searching for further tracks they first heard and then observed a man walking through the scrub. Immediately they sought concealment, and on walked Wiberg—for it was he—not suspecting danger; but when within about fifty yards of the ambush he evidently caught sight of the stooping form of Taylor, and, somewhat to the dismay of the police, he turned and fled along the sea shore. Edelston and Taylor seeing that at once gave chase, and Wiberg gave them a taste of his abilities as a pedestrian. He sprang down a cliff about four teen feet, and made for the water, and his pursuers, thinking he had intended to seek safety by swimming out to sea, he being reputedly an expert swimmer, fired three shots at him. The discharge of the firearms, followed by the whistling of the bullets, had the desired effect, and Wiberg, throwing up his arms, called out, ” I give up.” Glad of the opportunity, Edelston, with the assistance of his companion, soon handcuffed the prisoner, and took him to Mr. Laycock’s, on the Tarwin River. There they remained all night, Wiberg being closely watched during that time. He was not in the least dismayed by his arrest, and laughed and jested. But during the whole time that he was in the custody of Edelston and Taylor he said not one word which would tend to convict him of the robbery from the Avoca, or an admission that he had falsely maligned his chief mate, Mr. Elliston. There was no chance of his escape, because wherever he moved he knew that, besides being handcuffed, he was covered by the loaded revolvers of his captors, who profited by the lesson he had taught Inspector Secretan and his party. He was brought before the Griffiths’ Point magistrates pro forma on Saturday, and was remanded to appear in Melbourne on Saturday next. From thence he was brought to Melbourne by the Phillip Island coach, and the great public interest which the robbery has created was evinced by the large crowds of spectators who assembled at Prince’s bridge to get a glimpse of the man who had robbed the mail steamer of £5000, and had subsequently outwitted the detectives. About 1500 people awaited the arrival of the coach at Prince’s bridge, fully 2000 more stationed at the lock-up, and opposite the Albion Hotel, but the curiosity of the public was doomed to disappointment. The coach was met at St. Kilda by Sub Inspector Secretan and Wiberg was transferred to a buggy, and was brought to the Melbourne Gaol via Richmond. He was dressed in very “seedy”‘ garments, and, indeed, his general appearance indicated that he had slept in the same clothes ever since his sojourn in the Tarwin district. He seemed to be in excellent spirits, and the fact that he appeared to have grown stout since he was last seen in Melbourne indicates that he has not been starved. Sub-inspector Secretan refused to permit the prisoner to be interviewed, and the governor of the gaol also declined to grant a similar request. Reliable information has been obtained, which serves to show that Wiberg was arrested upon information first obtained in Melbourne. About a month ago the schooner Patrion was chartered in Melbourne by a man named Pearce to carry provisions to the vicinity of Waratah Bay. When just outside of the Heads the schooner was found not to be seaworthy, and the goods which she was carrying were transferred to the small steamer Gazelle and were afterwards landed at certain lime kilns. The owner of the Patrion subsequently sued Pearce in the County Court for £100 on a breach of agreement. Certain circumstances then came to light, which evidently caused a suspicion to be formed that the Patrion had been engaged in the interests of Wiberg. These suspicions in turn provoked enquiries, which resulted in the discovery of the fact that the sum of £’1000 had been transmitted by Wiberg to Melbourne for the purchase of a schooner. Feeling confident that he was still in the Tarwin district, Sub-inspector Secretan acting upon advice, sent two officers and a black tracker to Stockyard Creek to keep a look-out on the Waratah side of the river, and about two weeks ago he despatched Messrs. Edelston and Taylor to the Tarwin to keep watch on the Liptrap side. He also sent two men to Waratah Bay to prevent Wiberg from escaping by vessel. The success of this movement is demonstrated by the arrest on Friday of Wiberg. Immediately on the news becoming known in Melbourne, Sub-inspector Secretan and Detective Mackay acted upon information, and searched the house of a well known resident of Emerald Hill, where they discovered 800 sovereigns in a barrel of tallow which had been designed, in the first instance, by Wiberg herewit to purchase a vessel to make good his escape. They also visited the house occupied by Mrs. Wiberg, who, they were informed, had received 50 sovereigns from the agent already referred to. Mrs. Wiberg handed the police, after much hesitation, 38 sovereigns, stating she had expended £12. An official report has been sent to the Detective Office.

Trancript from The Telegraph 25 MAY 1879 –

Joseph Penroc, the master of the cutter Petrel, has been arrested In Melbourne charged with aiding and abotting Wiberg, And being accessory after the fact to the robbery of the 1,000 sovereigns from the P&O Avoca. It is said that the police have discovered a portion of the stolen sovereigns at Williamstown, where they were planted, It Is believed by Wiberg.

Transcript from The Argus 10 JULY 1879 – PROCECUTION OF WEIBERG AND PEARCE.

The prosecution of Martin Weiberg and Joseph Pearce, the former for stealing 5,000 sovereigns, the property of the P. and O. Company, and the latter for being an accessory after the fact was continued in the City Police Court yesterday before Mr Call, P.M., and a Bench of magistrates.
Mr C A Smyth conducted the proceedings on behalf of the Crown and Mr Purves appeared for the defense Mr Richards watched the proceedings on behalf of the witness Captain Walker.
The first witness called was John Davis, master of a small steamer named the Gazelle trading lately been seen Melbourne and Waratah Bay, who deposed,- I know the prisoner Pearce. He was a passenger on two occasions, the first time about the 7th or 9th of April last. Before that I had seen him in Williamstown. He said he had some freight to go down and he sent it down. It looked to me be meat, bread and potatoes. It was to be delivered at Waratah Bay. It was addressed to Brown and Pearce. Brown took delivery. Pearce was there too. Pearce complained of poverty and asked me to give him a passage up with some skins. He said he had no money but that he would work his passage. I took him to Melbourne. I next saw him in Melbourne On my return to Waratah Bay. I heard something and when I came next to Melbourne I spoke to Pearce This would be about the 21st or 22nd of April. He came alongside the vessel at the south wharf. I said, “you were a pretty fellow to complain of poverty when you came up with me, and had 800£”. He admitted first having, 500£, and afterwards in conversation he admitted having the £800 he did not tell me where he got the money. I did not ask him for any money. The next occasion I saw Pearce he was a passenger, on the 1st May to Waratah Bay, vid Loutit Bay. Through stress of weather I had to come back to Queenscliff for shelter. During the time at Queenscliff on shore, I had some conversation with the Pearce. He said he took Wiberg from a cave close by the lime kilns while the detectives were searching the house Brown was in ; that Brown put him there and gave him food. On our arrival at Waratah Bay, there was a small box, which was addressed to Brown on board. It was taken ashore with some letters to the manager there. When the boat came alongside, Pearce went up the wharf. He left this small case to come up in a truck. During the time this case was on the truck coming up four police-officers came on the beach. Later in the day in the house of the Manager, Pearce was saying how nicely he had done the police, and he took from his pocket a likeness and a letter. The letter was addressed “For Jimmy” and I believe was for Weiberg who went by the name of “Jimmy Morgan”. The likeness Pearce told me was of Wibergs wife and child. Pearce had them concealed in the lime bags before he was overhauled by the police. Pearce opened the box addressed to Brown, who took from it a pair of shoes and a pair of garters a parcel of hair dye, and a parcel of acid. I asked Pearce what the hair dye was for and he said to disguise Jimmy. The acid, he said was to remove the marks from his person. Pearce also had a revolver and a bag of cartridges. He did not say anything about them. The revolver produced is the same. About the 11th or 20th May, while out hunting with Pearce, I asked him how he became so foolish as to let Mrs. Brown wash the £800. He said he washed it himself after Mrs. Brown was in bed. I said, “That is a nice thing for you to be there after she was in bed.” No more was said on the subject. I was in a tent at Liptrap belonging to Pearce or Harvey. The last time I was there I was sent there. I never went to meet Weiberg. I took the revolver to the Liptrap. I was shooting with it. Nothing was ever said by Pearce about taking Weiberg to sea. I never had any conversation with Pearce about taking Weiberg away. I never told the detectives that such was the case. I only took Pearce to Melbourne once and once to Waratah Bay. The Brown I speak of is a man employed at the lime kilns at Waratah Bay. I do not know that Pearce lodged at Brown’s place.
William Mathews, ship and boat builder, Williamstown deposed -I own the cutter Petrel. I know the prisoner Pearce. I recollect seeing him in the month of February last I do not remember the exact date I never saw him before. He came to my house about 7 or 8 o’clock in the evening and asked me if I owned the Petrel. I said, “yes I do.” Pearce said, “We want a craft to go down to Waratah Bay, and if you come down to Mr Crawcour’s in the evening I will make arrangements with you. I went to Crawcour’s and Pearce was there. He asked me how much I wanted for the hire of the vessel for a month I said I did not know hardly but I thought about £10 a month. He said he was willing to give that. I said, “You will have to give me security for the worth of the craft – £85.” Mr. Crawcour was standing there and said he thought £75 was enough. I agreed to that. Mr Crawcour then wrote out an agreement to that effect. I have not got the agreement. The last I saw of it was in the County Court, when I sued Mr Crawcour for the amount. They took charge of her at the date of the agreement. Pearce and Crawcour made some remark about and a lady passenger. They took the craft away in and about a fortnight afterwards. Pearce and Crawcour came again and returned the craft. Pearce said the vessel was leaky and the chain rotten. He said they had got as far as Queenscliff.
Jane Brown wife of John Brown labourer, employed at the lime-kilns in Warratah Bay deposed -I was lately living at Emerald-hill. I know prisoner Weiberg’s wife now. She lived with me for the last eight weeks. I know the prisoner Pearce. He had been back and forward to my place. I saw Pearce about eight or nine weeks ago. He had a bag with him, like a guano bag. He put it down on the floor. He did not say what was in it. I asked him, and he said he had “sprung a plant” and afterwards I saw him washing some sovereigns in a tub. I could not say how many he had. I told him to take them away and he did so the same evening. I also saw him with some rolls of paper in the shed. I could not say how many. That was on another day. I know Mr Crawcour by sight. He came to my house with Pearce. I think that was before he brought the bag. Crawcour went into my shed with Pearce, and I saw Crawcour take away the rolls of paper. They looked as if they had money rolled up in them. I did not say just now that the papers contained sovereigns. I only saw the outside.
Mr Purves objected to the prosecution endeavoring to make the witness say that she saw the sovereigns.
Mr Gill.-The witness is giving her evidence very unsatisfactorily.
Mr Smyth.-You have full permission to cross examine her.
Mr Purves.-I never heard such a permission given without its being asked for. The police magistrate throughout this case appears to have made up his mind what the evidence ought to be.
Witness to Mr Purves -I have told the truth.
James Hill deposed. -I am residing with my father, a grocer at Emerald-hill. I know the prisoner Pearce. He is a customer of ours. About the 15th of March last he came to me and ordered some goods to be sent to Williamstown in the Gem. He ordered them- so far as I know- for himself. There were potatoes, flour and rice-about £3 worth. He did not pay for them. He said he would be up again from Williamstown. At that time Pearce spoke of Harvey. Pearce said he would call again and settle. He said there was a lot of skins on the pier at Waratah Bay and that when they were sold he would pay. I understood from Pearce at this interview that the things were for Brown who was a mate of Pearce’s, at Waratah Bay. Two or three weeks after Pearce came again and ordered some more goods for Waratah Bay to be sent to the wharf to the Gazelle. They consisted of tea and other groceries, about £8 worth. Pearce did not pay then. He said he would pay when the skins were sold. Two days after Pearce called I spoke about payment for the goods. He said his father had sent him out money from home, and that I need not trouble he had plenty of money. In the course of conversation, he told me he had sprung Weiberg’s plant, that he had watched the detectives down there, that it was a very lonely part of the bush, and that he had followed the footsteps to a tree. That on examining the tree he saw an auger hole; that he probed the ground with his ramrod and that he found something hard. He dug it up, and found there were 800 sovereigns in it. In a tin I think he said. I asked him if he know Weiberg. He said, “I never saw him, he must be dead. He could not possibly live in such a place as it is down there.” I asked Pearce what he was going to do with the money. He said he was going to buy a craft when it had all blown over and go into the potato and onion trade. On the first occasion Pearce paid me go £5 off Brown’s account. I have told all I remember up to that time. After Pearce’s trip in the Petrel, the next time I saw him he told me he was going to take an action about the boat. He said he was going to fetch up the sovereigns he had found in the plant. The next time he told me he had walked overland to Waratah Bay, and had come Back in the Gazelle. He came up to me on Saturday night and told me that he had got the sovereigns up all right, and he gave me one on that occasion he said they were in a clothes bag, with his dirty clothes, knocking about the deck of the Gazelle. When he gave me the sovereign he said, ” There is one of them. He gave it to me as a curiosity. He asked me to change the sovereigns for him at the same time I gave him silver for one and a note for the other. I next saw him the following week at our shop Pearce Rind, “I have got the sovereigns up all right, they are down at five Browns I said!, What are you home to do with them ‘ He said, “I thought of having a house in Williamstown,” and then he asked me if I would take charge of the sovereigns. I said, “I don’t wish to have anything whatever to do with it. If you bring anything to be left in my charge you can have it whenever you want it.” I said if there was anything wrong about if I would hand it over to the detectives immediately. Pearce said,” There will be no fear of anything of that sort. I found the money it is as much mine as anyone else’s. There is no suspicion about my having it too gave me nothing I, then. A day or two after he brought up a parcel under his arm. It was about a foot long rolled up in a newspaper. He placed it on the counter and said,” Take care of this till I come back. I asked him if he was going to leave it in that way. He said, “Oh put it into a bag.” I got a sugarmat. He put the parcel in it and it was tied up. I threw it into the office. He did not say on that occasion anything about washing them. On one occasion he told me he had brought them up in fat and had a hard job to wash them as he had to do it in the night, in case Mrs. Brown should see them. I threw the parcel in the bag into the office. I did not notice its weight. About 1 week after he came again to the shop to me and said, “I have had a chat with Detective Mackay”. I said “You had letter take your parcel away if you are talking to them, I am afraid there will become trouble over it”. Pearce said, ”It is all right there is no fear of anything happening.” Weiberg’s name was not mentioned after the first interview. The second night Pearce called after telling me about Detective Mackay; he called me to the door, and said “I want £50.” I said, “I cannot give it to you.” He said,” It is alright; let me have the parcel and I will get it myself.” He said he wanted it for Mrs. Weiberg, that he had met her in Lonsdale street, and that she was almost starving. I said he could not have it then as my brother was in the office. He returned again in the evening; we went into the office. He opened the parcel and he took some roll out and took them away I could not see what they contained. He said they were sovereigns. He gave me two rolls. He said,” These are for yourself.” I took them. They contained 40 sovereigns. I changed them into notes. I afterwards took out other rolls in which there were 60 sovereigns. I changed them into notes as well. I did not see Pearce after he left that night. The next thing about the money was when Mr Secretan and Detective Mackay came on the 10th May. I then handed him the parcel which contained 256 sovereigns. They were all over fat. I also handed them the £100 in notes which I had changed the sovereigns for.
Michael Crawcour, pawnbroker, Williamstown deposed,- I have known the prisoner Pearce two or three years. About March last I first saw him in connexion with this case at my place of business. He was by himself. He came in and I asked him to have some tea. He said,” I have brought up some money at last”. I said,” Where is it?” He said,” At Brown’s, on Emerald-hill. He said,” From what I learned from Weiberg, I went to his selection and on the edge of a plain near a large gumtree after looking about for some time I saw a place where the grass was much greener than the other places. I dug there and cut up a billy and 300 odd sovereigns in it.” He saw alongside it there a shipwright a slice-a kind of broad chisel. I then asked him where was the money. He said at Brown’s at Emerald-hill. I knew her husband well. I arranged with Pearce. I don’t know if it was exactly at that time. He told me he had got Weiberg down at Waratah Bay, planted in the scrub and that he (Pearce) was to take him to Callao. Pearce asked me to look after a vessel for him that Weiberg had agreed to give him £1000 and the vessel for himself at the end of the journey. Pearce asked me if I would change the money if he brought it up. I said I would. He asked me what I would charge him and told him 10 per cent. Pearce said, If you will I will bring them up. He said that Weiberg had the whole of the £5000; I went to Mrs. Brown’s with with Pearce on Sunday morning. Mrs Brown was there. Pearce went into a shed and brought out some parcels rolled up each about the size of a pound’s worth of silver and handed them to me. I was going to Windsor When I got there I opened the rolls and I found this contains 300 sovereigns and odd. Pearce did not go with me to Windsor. I have not those sovereigns still; they are changed and the balance I gave to Mr Secretan (The £46 cheque referred to). The sovereigns were all dated 1877 and bore the wreath brand. I cannot say where they were struck. Pearce also said that he and Harvey had been keeping Weiberg until they could keep him no longer as the provisions ran short that then they had a row with Weiberg- and Pearce said to Weiberg,” If you have the money had better go and get some; we cannot afford to keep you longer. That Weiberg started for the Tarwin and was away two or three days, and that they met him at the head of a gully. They gave him, he said, a feed, as he was nearly starving, and Weiberg gave him 500 sovereigns as a New Year’s gift. Pearce told me to take what they owed me. That was a joint account of Brown’s and his and their separate accounts, and to keep the balance until they wanted it. Pearce came to me again and said he had brought up 800 Sovereigns. This was some weeks after. He said they were rolled up in some tar and fat in the middle of his swag and that he had taken them to Mrs. Brown’s. He said Weiberg had given them to him to bring to me for chance. Occasionally he came with one two or three sovereigns and asked me to give him notes for them which I did I asked him where was the balance. He said the were not cleaned he would bring them over. At last he came with 10 and said he wanted them chanced to send £10 to Harvey. I understood Pearce to say he wanted this money to buy a vessel. Pearce wanted a boat to take provisions down and he told me one evening that he had engaged the cutter Petrel. I said, “What did you agree to give?” He said £10 for the use of the vessel for four or five weeks. The witness Mathews came to me in the evening and said he wanted an agreement from someone he knew as he did not know Pearce. I drew up an agreement undertaking to give Matthews £10 for the use of the vessel and £70 if she was not returned in the same state as we took her. Some days before Pearce left the last time he gave me two lists of things he required, including soap, boots, shoes, a felt hat, a revolver, caps some acid (which he said was to the out a mark on Weiberg’s hand), some hair dye (Pearce said for Weiberg), two pairs of garters. The revolver produced is the same. Pearce said it was for Weiberg too. I had these things in my place and I sold them to Pearce. Pearce brought up letters. He said they were for Mrs Weiberg from her husband. He told me that he brought up £250 for her. The next time he said it was only £50. He said it was in the £800 he brought up. Pearce gave me a letter once describing a place on the banks of a creek near a waterfall at a place they call Bear Gully. He said he had 500 sovereigns there in a fruit bottle and that if anything happened to him I was to dig there and divide the sovereigns between myself and Brown. After he brought the £800 up he said the 500 was amongst them; and I said, “Then this letter is no use now?” He said, “No,” and took it from me and tore it up.
George Edward Walker master of the steam tender Sprightly, deposed -I have known the prisoner Pearce for about two years. I saw him in March last. He asked me if I would take charge of a vessel he was about buying I said, “No”. He did not say where she was going to. I saw him in the meantime off and on. At the beginning of April last he came to my house. He was talking generally and then he said he would lend me £300 to buy a house with. I never asked him for a loan. I was to pay him interest at 7 per cent and I was to pay him off by monthly instalments. I had been speaking to him and telling him I was going to buy a house. The only security I was to give him was an agreement to pay so much a month to his credit at the bank he gave me the money on the 16th April at my house. It was 300 sovereigns. He did not say where he got them. I merely counted them and handed them to Mr Richards who drew out the conveyance of the house I bought. On one occasion I asked Pearce if he had seen or know anything of Weiberg.
He said “No,” and added- “Weiberg will never be taken alive.” The house was conveyed to my wife I handed the deeds to Detective Mackay. They are the same now produced.
Detective Edelsten deposed – On the 16th of May last, myself and Senior Constable Taylor arrested Weiberg near the Eagle’s Nest. I got eight sovereigns from the witness Harvey, and also a revolver at Harvey’s hut, where Weiberg was staying. I got the rifle ammunition, and telescope produced from Mrs Laycock.
Senior Constable Francis O Meara deposed,- I was with Inspector Secretan Detective Mackay, and Senior Constable Taylor when Weiberg was first arrested in October last.
Senior-constable Harold Henry Taylor deposed,- I was present when Weiberg was first arrested, and I witnessed the confession signed by Weiberg, produced, and marked as on exhibit. This closed the case for the Crown.
Mr Purves submitted that a prima facie case had not been made out, as no proof had been given that any sovereigns had over been stolen, and a confession could not be made binding without the production of the corpus delicti. Confessions of crimes never committed were by no means unfrequent, as it was a peculiar phase of the mind of some persons to confess enormities which had no existence in fact. There was actually no proof whatever that any sovereigns had ever been stolen at all. The nearest approach to that conclusion was the evidence of the bank clerk at Sydney, but he could only prove the existence of five bags which he believed to contain money, but he did not know what. He could not prove they were sovereigns, and although the Crown tried to get that in, they failed. Even had he been able to speak to the contents of the bags, his evidence had no weight, as the bags were left in the treasury after he saw them in the second place, presuming the sovereigns had been stolen, they did not belong to the P. and O. Company as set out in the information. They belonged to the Oriental Bank. The mere fact of a man entrusting his tools to a carrier who was responsible for them if they were lost did not alter the ownership. He did not presume, however, that the Bench would assume the responsibility of deciding a point of law, but they could not refuse to deal with matters of fact. He presumed they would not deal in that respect with regard to Weiberg but as far as Pearce was concerned there was no evidence against him. In the last place there was no evidence of the larceny of the sovereigns and even if there were, there was no evidence that Pearce had anything to do with it. He was not charged with harboring an escaped prisoner, but with being an accessory to the robbery after the fact. He could not be charged with harbouring a prisoner, as there was no doubt in a legal mind that Weiberg was not in legal custody when he escaped. Weiberg was committed to gaol to be kept there until tried, and the detectives had no more authority to take him to the Tarwin than they had to take him to the theatre. The only evidence at all against Pearce was that of Harvey, an accessory, and, as the Bench must be aware, the evidence of an accessory, uncorroborated was not sufficient. As far as Pearce was concerned, no guilty intent had been shown; and although the manner in which he had acted might to a certain extent be collateral evidence of guilt, still there might be many other reasons which actuated him. Pearce had been immensely prejudiced by the fact that he was standing beside Weiberg whilst all the voluminous evidence was given against the latter prisoner. If Pearce was guilty, were not the witnesses Harvey, Hill, Crawcour, and Brown in an exactly similar position? For they came forward to give their evidence and what did it amount to? Simply that Pearce had received Weiberg after he had escaped from illegal custody, and that he wished to remove him from the country. He submitted that the evidence did not warrant the committal of Pearce for trial.
Mr Call intimated that the Bench had decided to commit both prisoners for trial.
Mr Purves then submitted that the prisoners should be admitted to bail—Weiberg in a substantial amount and Pearce in moderate sureties.
Mr Smyth pointed out that one of the prisoners had already once escaped from custody, and that if either were admitted to bail they might secure the £3,000 or £4,000 which there was reason to believe was still planted in the bush.
The prisoners were formally committed for trial, and having been cautioned in the usual way, reserved their defence. The Bench after consultation decided to accept bail for Weiberg in two sureties £1000 each, and for Pearce in two sureties of £250 each.

Transcript from the New Zealand Herald 26 JULY 1879 – “MARTIN WIEBERG, THE GOLD ROBBER”

The trial of the above clever and ingenious scoundrel ended this week in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The circumstances of the ease are peculiar, aid, even at this stage, will bear repetition. The offence with which he was charged was that of robbing one of the P&O Company’s boats of a consignment of 5000 sovereigns, shipped by the Oriental Bank, while the vessel was on the passage from Sydney to Point de Galle.

A second charge of receiving stolen goods was also laid, and it is upon the latter that he has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. All efforts failed to trace the thief at time, but, on evidence collected by an officer of the P. and O. Company, Mr. Elliston (the Chief officer of the Avoca), and Martin Wiberg (the carpenter), were both dismissed for alleged neglect of duty. Elliston went to England, but Weiberg married a barmaid in Melbourne, and took up his residence as a selector on the Tarwin River, Gippsland, announcing his intention of making there a home for his young wife. A less hopeful spot for agriculture it would be hard to find, and into that desert Weiberg departed taking up a selection next to that of one Laycock, who owned the one inn which adorned the sterile settlement of Baas. From “information received,” the police went to watch the ship-carpenter who is so kindly disposed towards agriculture. A raid was made upon his hut, and 200 sovereigns found secreted in a hollow log. Another plant was discovered by Weiberg’s servant girl in a bar of soap, which she was accidentally cutting in two for household purposes. To her astonishment, the knife struck something hard, and, on looking for the cause, she saw the shining gold pieces wedged in the soap, and she took the money to her apparently astonished mistress. Other “plants” were discovered in various localities.

Weiberg, on being brought to Melbourne, confessed his guilt, and blamed Elliston, who, he said, bad given him a bribe of £200 to do the deed. He explained also to the police, the method by which he accomplished the robbery, and stated that there were four different ways by which he could reach the bullion room of the mail steamer. By and by he told the detectives that his share of the plunder came to £1800 more, and that if he was taken back to his home in Gippsland, he would point out where the money was concealed. The police closed with the offer, Inspector Secretan and two of his men (one Mahony, being specially chosen on account of his fleetness of foot) started with the confiding prisoner to Gippsland. The Tarwin was reached, and on the morrow the penitent thief declared he would bring up from its gloomy depths an iron pot, containing the missing gold. A boat was procured, and Secretan descended first into her. The bank was steep and slippery, the current strong, and Duncan, watchful for the safety of his officer, took bis eye for-a moment from the prisoner. Wieberg was unhandcuffed, “so that he might give the better assistance,” and a blow of his elbow in, the diaphragm of the fleet-footed Mahony, left him an instant free. Then began a race between the constable and the thief; but Weiberg knew the bush, and having the advantage of a start, was soon out of sight. A howl of public indignation was the result of this fiasco, and public opinion, as well as the report of the I Board of Inquiry, half-hinted at the current rumours that the police had been “provided for.” These statements put the detective force on its mettle. The first trustworthy information ascertained by the detectives concerning the movements of Wiberg after his escape were drawn from the circumstances disclosed in the case of Matthews v. Pearce, in the County Court. Pearce, was a man well known to the police as a hunter. For some time he was a hunter at King’s Island, and subsequently appeared as a hunter on Tarwin River. His skins were sent to Melbourne, and he appears to have had dealings with a pawnbroker, named Crawcour, at Williamstown. With Mr. Crawcour it is alleged that Pierce entered into certain arrangements for the purchase of a vessel, and deposited with him the sum of three hundred sovereigns. It was from Crawcour, and not Mr. Matthews, the owner, he had chartered the cutter Petrel, which was subsequently found to be unseaworthy. After the case in the County Court in Melbourne, a member of the detective force saw Crawcour, and learned from him the nature of the transactions between himself and Pearce. The further intelligence was afterwards obtained that Pearce had given the son of Mr. Hill, hotel-keeper, at Emerald Hill, a further sum of 800 sovereigns. Young Hill, after a little difficulty, disgorged the money he had received. Inspector Secretan and Detective Mackay paid a visit to Mr. Crawcour at Williamstown, and there obtained s portion of the sovereigns Pearce had deposited with him. Crawcour made a statutory declaration concerning the circumstances under which Pearce gave him the money. Hill did the same, and they were called as witnesses of the Crown in the charge that will be preferred against Pearce, who has received a year’s imprisonment. The detectives, having been put on their mettle by the expression of public opinion, exercised a constant supervision over Weiberg’s wife, who lives in unassuming grass-widowhood at Emerald Hill. It was known that she had £50 in the house, and was suspected of possessing more. In consequence of further intelligence, another detective was sent again to Gippsland on the track of the fugitive. This officer, disguised as a bushman, travelled quietly to the Bass side of the Western Port. At an appointed place he met a mounted constable, and the two set out Bay. Dressed as swagsmen, and aimed only with concealed revolvers, and Taylor made the seventy-mile journey unsuspected. One day, on the sandy beach, they saw the print of a naked foot, which led to a track in the scrub, and similar footprints at an inlet leading to the water. They conjectured that the hunted man was accustomed to swim across the inlet, and camped in the scrob awaiting his arrival. A man suddenly appears, and is challenged. He vainly runs for the cliff and the river, as the bullets whiz round him. Feeling that certain death awaits him if he does not surrender, Weiberg throws up his hands, and is speedily secured, and brought down to Melbourne. It is believed that the balance of the stolen sovereigns have been secreted by Weiberg in the vicinity of his late haunt, and impressed with that belief, a systematic search has been instituted. Thus far the mystery of the Avoca has been cleared up ; it remains to be seen what further light future events may throw upon it.

Transcript from the Bendigo Advertiser 16 Oct 1883 – “The fate of Martin Weiberg”

In order to solve the doubts as to the death of Martin Weiberg, the notorious gold robber, a World reporter was commissioned yesterday morning to interview Captain Leith, of the schooner Gazelle. Captain Leith stated that there was a fierce wind blowing from the north-east at the time, the sea was mountains high, and it was impossible that Weiberg’s dingy could live long in such a gale.

“Do you think that Weiberg had any idea of committing suicide ?” said our reporter.
“Not the slightest,” replied the captain, “he was far too clever a man for that. He had been drinking hard, and was half drunk at the time, and his death was simply the result of a reckless drunken spree.”
“What about the gold ?” was our reporter’s next question.
“Of that I know nothing at all, and I don’t believe any living person does either.”
“You are quite sure he is dead anyhow ?”
“I am perfectly sure that he is dead,” replied the skipper, “and I offered to bet a friend of mine.”

About a year subsequently the Detective department of this city received information from a private source that Martin Weiberg, who had been the ship’s carpenter on board the China at the time of the robbery, but who was then a selector on the Tarwin River in Gippsland, was the robber. A party of detectives where sent out to capture Weiberg, whom they met as he was on his way into the city. He returned with them to the place where he had been living, and a search revealed a number of ” wreath” sovereigns hidden in an old plane by means of a hole bored in the wood. Weiberg then declared that he had only been a tool in the hands of Captain Ellison, and was now ready to show them where the remainder of his portion of the gold was hidden. He said he had placed it in an old iron kettle, and sunk it in the Tarwin River. The detectives went to the place under Wieberg’s guidance, and while they were fishing for the precious pot with a boat-hook and line, he managed to effect his escape. Soon after this the detectives found 1,000 of the sovereigns at Emerald Hill, where, it was pretty certain, they had been left by the clever rogue.

After several months hiding in Gippsland, Weiberg was again captured, tried, and sentenced to five years in Pentridge. The next day after his release from that institution, about three months ago, he was charged at the Hotham Police Court with having been drunk, and was fined £1, including costs. He paid the fine with a ” wreath” sovereign, and went away to Gippsland, where subsequently he spent a lot more ” wreath ” sovereigns at a public-house. In this connection it should be mentioned that immediately upon the discovery of the robbery and receipt of the news in Sydney, the coining of wreath sovereigns was discontinued, and only the one box of them ever found their way or were allowed to get into circulation. The device on the colonial sovereign was then changed to St. George and the Dragon, so that the fact of Weiberg’s having so many of the old pattern to dispose of, even after his long incarceration in Pentridge, has a peculiar significance. Less than one-fourth of the stolen money was ever recovered.

Transcript The Argus Sat 1 Dec 1883 –

Yesterday morning Sub-Inspector Mackay and Sergeant Witcher of Williamstown, interviewed a man named Matthew Olsen on board his yacht Neva, which is at present in Hobsons Bay. Olsen is alleged to be a brother of the notorious Martin Olsen, alias Weiberg, charged with the R M.S. Avoca gold robbery, who was said to have been drowned recently. The Neva is a vessel of some 8 tons and has just arrived from Waratah Bay. Olsen and another man, said to be his brother, are the only occupants of the vessel Matthew Olsen states that they have been cruising for pleasure along the coast. He says he has no idea where his brother Martin can be but is confident that he has not been drowned. When questioned as to what money he had, Olsen produced two £10 Colonial Bank notes but no gold. On looking over the vessel the police found a chronometer and a sextant.

Transcript Portland Guardian Tue 4 Dec 1883 – WEIBERG’S CUTTER “NEVA”

The small cutter Neva, which arrived in Port Phillip Bay on Thursday, was boarded next morning by Inspector Mackey and Sergeant Witcher. Matthew Olsen, owner of the cutter, is a brother of the Avoca gold robber, the surname Weiberg being assumed. Olsen informed the police officers that he was confident his brother Martin was not drowned, but professed entire ignorance of his whereabouts. Inspector Mackey made a search of the vessel, which is known to be Martin “Weiberg’s” old cutter, with the object of ascertaining if any gold had been stowed away, but he was unable to find anything. Olsen, however, produced several £10 notes, with which he assured Mackey he was going to enjoy himself, at the same time stating that he had plenty more to fall back upon. Olsen appears to have some knowledge of
the whereabouts of his brother, as he affirms most positively that he was not drowned, as was supposed some time ago. With reference to the cutter, it was his object to offer her for sale, but seeing that so much notoriety has been given to his movements it is probable that the Neva will leave the bay again in a day or two.—
Telegraph.

Transcript The Herald 6 Dec 1883 – THE YACHT NEVA

There cannot be any doubt that the arrival of the yacht Neva, as reported in The Herald of Friday last, had something to do with the movements of the man Martin Olson alias Weiberg, the notorious Avoca gold robber. The statements made by the parties on board were of so contradictory a nature, that the Customs and police authorities were not satisfied. The former, however, were satisfied with papers of clearance as to the purchase and departure of the yacht some months since, and it was slated by Olson, brother of the robber, who was in command, that the last port of call was Waratah Bay, where they had been some time on a fishing cruise. No further steps were taken, as it was ascertained that no dutiable goods of a large value were on board. The police authorities also could not trace anything that led to the belief that Martin Weiberg or any portion of the stolen sovereigns was on board the yacht. It has now transpired privately that Weiberg had taken his passage under an assumed name some days prior to the sailing of the steamship Sorata for England on Saturday last. That he was in Williamstown on Thursday last, and seen on board the vessel has been declared by one of the residents at Waratah Bay, who know him perfectly well. Also that an old, identity of Williamstown was known to come on board with some refreshments, in the shape of spirits, wine, &c. Weiberg, upon his release from gaol was frequently soon in the vicinity of Williamstown, and according to our inquiries he kept himself very quiet and select not caring to beer. It is considered though the passage was taken for England, it is likely Wiberg will land at Suez, and then make his way to Berlin. The yacht Neva is now on the slip at Williamstown and is reported for sale. The price asked is £200. She is a nice, smart looking craft.

Transcript Mount Alexander Mail 5 Jan 1884 – MELBOURNE NEWS

The famous yacht “Neva”, belonging to Martin Olson alias Weiberg, has boon sold to a gentleman residing at St. Kilda at a good sum. The sale took place during the week, Matthew Olsen noting as the seller. Last night Olson entered into the bonds of matrimony at Williamstown with a very good-looking young woman, and it is reported that the newly married pair intend settling down on their brother’s property at Waratah Bay. The marriage caused some little excitement among a number of friends of both parties, who had got wind of the affair coming off.

Transcript The Sydeny Morneing Herald 27 Feb 1884 – Family Notices

OLSEN—McDONALD.—January 3, at the residence of her sister, Mrs. Smith, Williamstown, Victoria, by the Rev. John Clark, Matthew Olsen to Margaret McDonald, youngest daughter of Eugene McDonald, tailor, of Balmain, Sydney, N. S. W.

Transcript Oamaru Mail 9 Feb 1897 – Remarkable Gold Robbery

THE WEIBERG SENSATION, Apropos of the recent mysterious robbery of 5000 sovs. from the Oceana, between Sydney and Melbourne, the Age recalls the remarkable robbery nearly 20 years ago of 5000 sovs. from the P. and O. Company’s steamer China, which forms one of the most extraordinary chapters in the annals of crime. Martin Weiberg, the man who abstracted 5000 sovs. from the China, was a ship’s carpenter, and had made careful preparations for his attack upon the bullion stowed away in the strong room. He had supplied himself with special tools for cutting all round the seals affixed to the boxes containing the gold, and by these openings he abstracted the sovereigns and afterwards carefully replaced the seals and portions of the- boxes to which they were attached. The job was so neatly done as to entirely escape detection until the steamer reached Galle (Ceylon), and on the 4th of September, 1877, the police of Melbourne first obtained intimation of the robbery. The gold had been forwarded by the Oriental Bank at Sydney, and sent on to Melbourne in the coastal steamer Avoca and thence transhipped to the R.M.S. China. For some time it was not known whether the sovereigns had been stolen during the voyage of the Avoca from Sydney to Melbourne or after the boxes had been placed on board the China. The chief officer and the carpenter of the China, Martin Weiberg, were discharged. There the matter rested until October – , 1878, when Weiberg, who had in the meantime settled down on a selection of the Tarwin (Vic. was arrested. Over 200 sovereigns were found in his possession. After his discharge Weiberg married a barmaid, and turned farmer in the wild regions of the Tarwin River. He might have succeeded in escaping from the clutches of the law but for a quarrel with his wife, who had learned his secret, and after the quarrel communicated it to her mother, who in turn confided it to the police. Weiberg had displayed great ingenuity in securing his plunder, having placed 1000 sovereigns in a tin of fat, which he stored at Port Melbourne, and some of the gold was placed inside an ordinary carpenter’s wooden plane, which had been specially hallowed out for the purpose. This plunder was quite accidentally discovered by the detectives in handling Weiberg’s tools, when the weight of the wooden plane immediately arrested attention. In various ingenious plants, one being an auger hole bored into the trunk of a tree, some 200 sovereigns in all were discovered corresponding with those stolen, which all had for the reverse a wreath instead of the St. George and the Dragon stamp. Weiberg was brought up to Melbourne Tor trial, and, in a moment of apparent repentance,

CONFESSION OF GUILT, and offered to show the police where a parcel of 1700 or 1800 sovereigns was sunk in the Tarwin river. There is every reason to believe that Weiberg on this occasion partly described the actual hiding place, fur his description of the spot when in gaol was fount to correspond in detail to the locality to which he afterwards took the police. Weiberg stated that he had scaled up the sovereigns in a tin kettle, and sunk them at a point between a conspicuous gum tree on one bank and a clump of tea-tree on the other. These were found by the three detectives who accompanied Weiberg. While they were dragging tho mud for the gold Weiberg at first worked like a nigger, and was apparently as eager as the police to recover the spoil. On day, while two of the detectives were in the boat and a third on shore with Weiberg, the robber suddenly dealt the officer beside him.

A TERRIFIC BLOW In the pit of the stomach, and made a dash for the scrub. One of the detectives tried to stop him with a shot, but the revolver missed fire. The other—one of the fastest runners in Victoria—partly recovering from the blow, started in pursuit, but Weiberg, having reached the scrub, was safe, and for some months nothing more was heard of him. Later the police learned that he had sent a sum of nearly 1000 sovereigns in Melbourne to purchase a vessel called the Spray, and this money was found secreted in a house in one of the Melbourne suburbs, and seized. The police meanwhile endured hardship searching for Weiberg. One evening, however, they saw a man at a distance approach them, and hide behind trees. It was Weiberg, who, getting within 50 yards of them, caught a glimpse of one of the officers, and immediately made

A DASH FOR THE WATER, Jumping down a cliff some 14ft high to reach it. Constables Edelston and Taylor got within range before he could swim far, and both fired, Taylor’s bullet cutting the water about a foot in front of him, and this so startled the robber, fine as was his nerve, that he at once turned shoreward again, shouting, “I give up.” The arrest took place close to the high rocks on Mount Patterson, known as the Eagle’s Nest. Weiberg afterwards boasted of his cleverness in blotting out his tracks, and said it was his custom when walking along the shore to do so only at low water, and the next rising tide blotted away all traces. The plants chosen by him were unique, a servant girl, who lived with Weiberg and his wife, stating at the trial that she once discovered a lot of sovereigns planted in a bar of soap.

Weiberg got FIVE YEARS FOR THE THEFT. And having served it returned to Gippsland. He was known afterwards to have bought a boat, subsequently found capsized at sea. Thus the daring gold robber, who for a time was in the eyes of the criminal classes a hero second in importance only to the blood guilty Kelly gang, was no sooner free that the fate he had so dared in swimming Anderson’s Inlet overtook him, and the robber and possibly his gold went down at sea. The particulars of his death were vague enough to establish in many minds the conviction that Weiberg lived and got away with a share of the spoil, for little more than a thousand sovereigns in all were recovered.

Transcript Great Southern Advocate 10 Jun 1897 – Martin Wieberg

A report is going the rounds of the papers that the above notorious gold robber is living in another part of the world, keeping a public house. Every person of notoriety takes to the public house. In our Leongatha contemporary of last week, Mr. John Dewar, Jun., of Waratah Bay, under date 20th May, refers to the published announcement of Wieberg being alive. “It was in Waratah Bay and not in the Tarwin River,” he writes, “that the incidents which I am about to relate happened. Martin Wieberg left here in a small boat 10ft. x 3ft. — a thing that I could lift single-handed — to cross from Waratah Bay to Glennie Island, a distance of 15 or 16 miles, when it was blowing a gale of wind from the south-west, and to make it worse, he was under the influence of liquor. Several of the inhabitants tried to persuade him that he was going to his death, but he was a very determined man, and more so when anybody tried to point out that he was not in a fit state to undertake the task before him. So he started, and we watched him till he got perhaps a mile out, where the sea was much more broken. He was then sitting very low in the boat and we could only catch occasional glimpses of her as she rose and fell with the waves. After a short while we could not make out which was the boat and which was the broken water, so we had to give it up and await further developments. I may mention that he intended bringing the yacht to Waratah the next day — he having left her there in charge of his half-brother, Matthew Olsen; however, he never came in with the yacht. At the time I am speaking of there was a small steamer trading between Melbourne, Waratah and Port Albert, and a day or two after the incident of Wieberg leaving, the Gazelle came in on one of her weekly trips, so the captain was informed of the circumstance and on his way from Port Albert he picked up the yacht and towed her into Waratah. In the meantime the dinghy was picked up on Yanakie Beach, also the oars, his coat and hat, and several other small things, but Martin Wieberg was never seen again, although a Mr. J. Brown joined Matthew Olsen in the yacht on the ninth day and cruised about the bay for two or three days in the hope of picking up his body, but without success. Olsen spent a few weeks here and then took the yacht to Melbourne and sold her, and if report speaks truly the person who bought the same found £100 in notes put away inside the lining. Olsen got married and came to Waratah to live. He spent many weary months looking for the gold, but without success, and, strange to say, he met with a tragic end here also. He was out on the rocks fishing one day when he must have fallen and stunned himself, for he was picked up dead on a bit of beach, with a hole in his forehead. So the Avoca gold, or some of it, is probably still in the vicinity. Under the circumstances I am justified in stating and believing that Martin Wieberg is dead, although some believe that he got on board a steamer and so away, but that is, to my mind, out of the question, because if he had got in the fairway of the coasting or intercolonial boats his dinghy would have drifted outside Wilson’s Promontory, and not on the Yanakie Beach. If this piece of information is of any use to you you are at liberty to make the most of it, and to conclude I maintain that Martin Wieberg was drowned in Waratah Bay, knowing what I do regarding small boats in a seaway and seeing what I saw on the day of his departure for Glennie Island.

Transcript from the Otago Daily Times, 17 Aug 1906 – UNDER SUSPICION

A CELEBRATED GOLD ROBBERY. (Melbourne Argus.) A sensational gold robbery, which for some time furnished’ Australia with one of its mysteries in crime, is recalled by news of the death at Felixtowe, England, of Mr R, B. Elliston. In August. 1877, the steamer Avoca, of _ which Mr Elliston was chief officer, arrived from Sydney, bringing a shipment of sovereigns for transfer to the P&O steamship “China”. The gold was placed aboard the liner, in Melbourne, without suspicion that any of it was missing until the China reached Galle, then the port of call for mail steamers at Ceylon. There it was found that 5000 sovereigns had been taken from two boxes consigned to Ceylon, and nothing but the sawdust packing remained. Mr Elliston was invalided home some time afterwards, suffering from blood-poisoning. He was one of the best known of the younger officers in the P&O service, for he had decided musical gifts, and quite exceptional skill in conjuring tricks, which he had picked up amongst the natives of the East. He married in Sydney, and was about to settle down in his native town, when one day lie was stopped in the street by two London detectives, and. on the strength of a cable message from Australia, where a wan-ant had been issued, charged with the theft of the Avoca gold. Although he was unaware of it, the real thief had been arrested in Australia, and, knowing that Mr Elliston had gone to England, an invalid, possibly dying, had cunningly charged him with instigating and assisting in the crime. Mr Elliston appeared at Bow street, and was remanded on bail to await evidence from Australia. where events connected with the Avoca robbery were taking a more sensational turn.

A curious superstition of the Cingalese was in a large measure responsible for the detection of the real gold-robber. The sovereigns taken front the Avoca had been specially minted in Sydney for circulation in Ceylon; but. as the natives disliked the St. (George and Dragon stamp, these wore stamped with a wreath pattern. After a time those wreath sovereigns of 1877 Sydney mintage were found to be in circulation in Victoria, and the detectives turned their attention to Martin Weiberg. who had been carpenter of the Avoca at the time of the robbery, Mid had left the ship a few months afterwards to take up a selection on the Tarwin River, in Gippsland. A servant girl employed by Weiberg, in cutting a bar of soap, found it packed inside with sovereigns, and in this way, it was believed, suspicion was first directed to Weiberg, who, it was found, paid for everything in gold, and always with wreath sovereigns of 1877. The detectives travelled down to Gippsland, disguised as selectors in search of land; but the first man they met riding up the bush track from the Tarwin was Martin Weiberg. They promptly arrested him, and found a purse, with 40 wreath sovereigns. “Why, those are the’ very sovereigns taken from the Avoca,” they said, and Weiberg, answered, ” Yes; some of them.” Two of the detectives went on to search his hut. on the Tarwin, where they found 60 of the sovereigns in an old carpenter’s plane, which had been bored with an augur, in which the coin was neatly packed. Another plant was found under a log. Weiberg had many plants in most unlikely places”. When arrested, he, after a day’s reflection, made a confession, when he said that Mr Elliston planned the robbery, and that he merely acted on his instructions, and only received £300 of the spoil. It was upon the strength of this confession that the warrant was issued for Mr_ Elliston’s arrest. The confession was varied later. The police were keen to discover the whereabouts of the missing gold, and often interviewed Weiberg in gaol. Those interviews at length suggested to him a plan of escape. Pretending to make a clean breast of it, he said that he had buried 2300 sovereigns in a tin kettle on the banks of the Tarwin River, at a point indicated by two large gum trees, growing close together on the bank, and he offered to take the police to the spot. Ho was in charge of an escort of three armed detectives, one of them (now Inspecting Superintendent Mahony) a famous runner; but Martin Weiberg was not a man to be baffled by risks, and waited his chance. The party went down to the Tarwin, got a boat, and rowed to the spot indicated by the goldrobber, where the bank was very stoop. Two of the police got down the bank into the boat. Ono of them stood near Weiberg, who was not at the moment handcuffed, and who, of a sudden, dealt the detective a tremendous blow in the pit of the stomach, which doubled him up, and disabled him for a moment. In an instant Weiberg, who was both powerful and speedy, dashed into the thick scrub, and escaped. For five months this daring gold-robber was a fugitive in the scrubs about Anderson’s Inlet, living chiefly in the huts of kangaroo hunters, whoso imagination was dazzled by his deeds, and who harboured him, partly as a celebrity, and mainly because he was able to pay for their hospitality. Whatever else Weiberg lacked, he had plenty of wreath coin. Ho arranged a plan of escape with one of these men, who went up to Melbourne with 800 sovereigns io buy and provision a small craft, the Petrel, in which Weiberg hoped to make his escape. The emissary muddled’ his mission, was robbed by people sharper than himself and more unscrupulous, so that both he and the gold were soon in the hands of the police, who recovered in all about 1000 sovereigns. Detective Eggleston and Mounted-constable Taylor, who knew a good deal about the locality, thought that they could capture Martin Weiberg, and spent an unpleasant fortnight in the scrubs in the month of May, 1878. They were encouraged by finding footprints leading at ono point from the inlet to the scrub, and retorting to the water at another point—though the robber, on the whole, was cautions, and when he walked along the sands always did so at. low water, so that the rising tide would obliterate his footprints, Concluding their man was accustomed to swim in the inlet—though over a mile wide, and in summer infested with sharks—the police rode round 30 miles to Cape Patterson, on the outer shore, where, after watching for some time, they one day saw Weiberg walking -towards them. The moment he sighted the police he dashed off like a deer for the water, and would probably have escaped again but that Taylor took the risks in jumping down a cliff to intercept him. After two shots had been fired—one bullet striking the water just in front of the fugitive—who threw up his arms and surrendered. The whole plan of the Avoca mystery was then revealed, for Weiberg, had given many men his confidence. In repairing the lock of the bullion room door he had managed to take a print of the key in wax, had made a trapdoor entrance to the bullion room hatch from another part of the ship, and on the trip down from Sydney removed the gold, melting the wax on the seals of the boxes with a hot knife, and after the removal of the gold restored the boxes to as nearly as possible their original_ condition. The robbery must have been discovered in Melbourne when the gold boxes were transferred to the liner, but. that the lascars who did the work were too stupid or too indifferent to notice the difference in the weights, though the natives in Ceylon who handled the boxes at once drew attention to it. Weiberg, who finally exonerated Mr Elliston from all knowledge of the crime, was tried, and sentenced to five years’ hard labour. He. served his sentence,” and a few days after being released was arrested in the city for drunkenness, and with rare audacity paid his fine with a Sydney wreath sovereign. He afterwards bought a small cutter, the Sea Queen, which was one day found drifting in Bass Straits with her sails set. That was the last heard of the notorious gold robber, who was believed to have been drowned at sea.

In the meantime Mr Elliston had some solace for the pain of mind both he and his friends endured. The charge was pressed against him when there was no longer evidence to support if, so on being acquitted he took actions against the P&O Company and others. His innocence had been so completely demonstrated by the developments in Weiberg’s career that no defence was offered, and the eases were all settled out of court by apology and payment of damages. The Victorian Government hold out for some time, but, finding that Mr Elliston was less concerned about loot than the reinstatement of his character, it finally voted him a sum of £500, and passed a resolution of the House in honourable and generous terms, expressing public regret that an innocent man should have been so deeply wronged. The P&O Company did not stop at compensation. It offered Mr Elliston a responsible post in its service, and when he refused paid him a pension until his death. A remarkable faith in the ultimate triumph of innocence marked Mr Elliston’s conduct while tinder ‘suspicion. Incidents in his early life at soi made a deep impression upon a mind which had naturally a religious bent. On one occasion he was washed overboard from his ship. Heroes of Alma, off the coast of Madagascar. He was swimming in a rough sea nearly an hour, for the volunteer crew which lowered a boat in the hope of rescue could neither see him nor hear his calls. He had a’ few minutes of supreme suspense when he saw the ship signal the boat to return, and then, when hope seemed gone, was luckily seen and rescued. There are many old Australian voyagers who, even after the lapse of years, will hear with regret of the death of this Suffolk sailor, who until the end maintained his touch with the sea by taking charge of the coast signals on the cliffs fronting his native town.

Transcript from the Evening Star, 3 Jan 1930 – Australian History

AVOCA GOLD ROBBERY AN AUDACIOUS THEFT One of the most sensational episodes in the history of the Australian mercantile marine was the robbery of 5,000 sovereigns from the steamer Avoca, commonly referred to as the Avoca gold robbery. Although it occurred over half a century ago, the details of the audacious theft still make interesting reading, and serve to enable us to visualise things as they were in those far-off days (writes “C.S.” in the Melbourne ‘Age’). Built in 1866, the good ship Avoca was used in the Sydney-Melbourne service. At that time all mail steamers terminated at Melbourne ,Williamstown, to be correct), so that it was necessary to tranship passengers and mails to another vessel to enable them to reach Sydney. This was the part allotted to the Avoca, md nothing untoward happened until she left Sydney in July, 1877, with consignments of gold on board for transhipment to England. Arriving at Williamstown, the boxes which were supposed to contain gold were duly transhipped to the mail steamer China without any indication of their having been tampered with.

5.000 SOVEREIGNS MISSING. The China arrived at Galle (Ceylon) on August 29. and it was then discovered that a box containing 5,000 sovereigns had been broken open and the contents abstracted. At the time it was not possible to ascertain if the gold had been stolen from the China or Avoca. Naturally the news created a sensation, and extensive inquiries were instituted by the-police, but without success. The carpenter—Martin Weiberg—was, however, suspected and dismissed, as well as the chief officer for, neglect of duty. After dismissal. Weiberg married a barmaid, and with the proceeds of the robbery took up a selection of 120 acres of land on the banks of the Tarwin River. Meanwhile, the detectives had been quietly collecting evidence against him, and he was eventually arrested and brought to Melbourne. Over 200 sovereigns were found in his possession. Weiberg then made what he professed to be a “full confession,” in which he accused the chief officer of being the instigator and central figure in the affair. He also gave the startling information that _ he (Weiberg) had 1,700 more sovereigns concealed on the bank of the Tarwin, and, if taken to the spot, would disclose the plant. This was readily agreed upon, a guard consisting of an inspector and two detectives accompanying him. It seems strange to relate that Weiberg was not handcuffed, neither were the police pistols in order. Whilst the inspector was engaged in dragging the river in a boat, the robber suddenly stunned one of the detectives (the other was temporarily absent) and made good his escape.

FOUND AGAIN. The chief officer was afterwards arrested in England, but owing to lack of evidence the charge was dropped. Months later, after diligent search, the police again located Weiberg—this time on a desolate part of the coast and rearrested him at pistol point. Again lie was brought to Melbourne and placed in the cells. The evidence disclosed that he had bored holes in carpenters’ planes and filled them with sovereigns he also concealed part of the loot in bars of soap. He was thus enabled to carry the plunder ashore without exciting suspicion. A plane that was discovered in his hut was found to contain 54 sovereigns. The police also seized 1,000 sovereigns which the robber had forwarded to some friends to charters small vessel to go to Gippsland with a cargo of provisions. This vessel —the Petrel was, however, unseaworthy, and got only as far as the Heads, when the trip had to be abandoned. His sentence was five years’ imprisonment with hard labour. His wife was also arrested, and 50 sovereigns were found in her possession. When liberated, Weiberg went to South Gippsland (near Waratah Bay), where it was thought some of the booty was hidden. Ho had sufficient money (1,000 sovereigns) to buy a yacht, and it was his intention to go to New Zealand. At that time his wife was employed at Waratah Bay, and, after leaving the Neva in charge of two of his brothers, came in with the dinghy with the intention of inducing his wife and child to accompany him. This his wife refused to do, so Weiberg was obliged to depart without them. Two days later the remains of a boat, also a cap (presumably Weiberg’s) were found on the beach, and it was believed the robber was drowned. A fortnight later the yacht was seen at anchor off one of the islands near the Promontory and brought to Melbourne. Apparently Weiberg had intercepted a Swedish sailing vessel and, as ship’s carpenter, worked his passage to Sweden, for he was seen there a few years later by a Melbourne resident who knew him well. Weiberg was then carrying on an hotel business.

Transcript from The Age 19 dec 1931 – THE AVOCE ROBBERY

Sir,— in connection with the story of the Avoca gold robbery, published some weeks ago in “The Age,” I ‘would like to inform you that some of the references to Wiberg are not quite correct. I knew Wiberg before he stole the money, also his wife and two daughters who lived at the Lime Kilns, Waratah Bay, the whole seven years while he was in gaol. When he came out he came to my place and got provisions, started off, bought a ship, anchored it at a place called the Glenesse, whence the Government seized it. I held his coat and helmet when it was picked up on the beach by a man named Jack Leeson, of Yanakee Station. I was on the beach the day he got drowned out of a boat with a man named Fisher who had a store at the Tarwin River. I knew also Constable Taylor, the man who swam the river and caught him at Anderson’s Inlet when he came to get the food out of the safe at a place called Laycock’s before he got his sentence. Taylor was the policeman who caught him. He was stationed at San Remo, which used to be called Griffith’s Point. —Yours &c., Carlton. H. KING.

Transcript from The Argus 22 Jan 1938 – Letters from Editors postbag

BURIED TREASURE: Sir,—I was very interested In your article on the Avoca robbery. It brought many interesting things to my mind in regard to the mystery of the lost gold. How many Victorians know beautiful Waratah Bay, a shelter in fierce storms for ships battling in the straits? At the Liptrap end of this perfect bay there was, 35 years ago, a prosperous settlement, a lime-burning company having four kilns on the beach, burning the limestone from the cliffs there. The manager was a Mr. Dewar, who lived in a large, rambling house with his wife and family. He was a Scotsman of the finest type—upright, honorable, and his word was his bond.

I preface this to the tale I shall tell, as I know he would not romance with the truth. About 36 years ago I was spending a quiet holiday at the bay. I went down to get my letters, which came rather spasmodically. Mr. Dewar, who was also the postmaster, was sunning himself, and I sat down beside him. I expect I remarked idly on the beauty of the scene. I remember that I said how free from history such places In Australia are.

Mr. Dewar said, “Why, lassie, the bay has its history, too,” and as time was heavy on our hands, the Wiberg story was told to me. I think Mr. Dewar’s first contact with Wiberg came when he ensconced himself in a cave near the settlement. Wiberg was a man of violent temper. Mr. Dewar said that he roamed the bush from the Tarwin toward Cape Lip-trap, his clothes being ragged, and replaced by possum skins. The incident of the Tarwin was that Wiberg was taken in a boat, of which one of the party was Sergeant-Detective Mahoney, reputed to be the best runner in the force. When the boat was pulled in close to the bank, amid high reeds and scrub, Wiberg suddenly dealt Mahoney a violent blow, completely winding him. In the confusion the culprit escaped. Eventually Wiberg appeared at Waratah Bay, and lived in a cave, which he made comfortable. He was still being searched for, as police came sometimes to stay at Mr. Dewar’s for a few days to look round.

As Wiberg had a very good pair of field-glasses, he could see anyone coming, and he simply faded away at search times. He had plenty of money. Mr.Dewar said that the Despatch brought down kerosene tins of axle grease, evidently stuffed with the gold. “One day,” said Mr. Dewar, “much to my surprise, I saw Wiberg coming down the pier. He asked if his wife (who was a housekeeper to a resident) was still there. Mr. Dewar said, “She is, but how did you get here?” Wiberg told a tale that he had been to Sydney and bought a large yacht, which was lying in shelter outside one of the islands. His two brothers were there, and others, to make up the crew. He had come for his wife and child, and would take them with him, and then they could sail for the south of New Zealand, in search of a gold-laden ship, said to have sailed into a cave one dark night. Mr. Dewar said, “Let me have a look at the boat,” and with scorn in his voice, he said, “Why, man, it is only a caravel. You came in on the tide, but you will never get out again.” Wiberg persisted that he would, so Mr. Dewar persuaded him to ballast the boat with some bags of sand. Then Mrs. Wiberg and her daughter came along the pier, very tearful and unwilling to go. Mr. Dewar said: “I thought very quickly, and said, ‘Get back to the beach with your child, Mrs. Wiberg. Get off my pier.'” Very gladly the mother and child retreated, and Wiberg, in a towering rage, started for the yacht, miles away, and in the face of a strong tide. Mr. Dewar watched him until he turned a corner and disappeared from sight. A day or two later a Mr. Pilkington, living at Sandy Point, away across the bay, rode in to Waratah. He asked if anyone had left in a boat, as there were pieces of a boat and a red cap washed up. Mr. Dewar subsequently identified the timber and the cap. He said it left no doubt in his mind that Wiberg had been drowned on his foolhardy trip to the yacht. A day or two later the Despatch, on her trip to the Lakes, saw the yacht lying in shelter, with distress signals flying. On inquiry the crew was found to be short of food, and living on toffee made from sugar and water.

I think no one can doubt that Wiberg was drowned. After some time, Mr. Dewar said, the two brothers came from Melbourne and occupied a vacant house. One man had his young wife with him. They were very poor, seemingly, as they lived on fish and vegetables, raided by night, from neighbours gardens. All the time they could spare the two men searched the coastline for the gold. One morning the young wife came to Mr. Dewar and said that her husband had not returned home. They found him dead. He had evidently slipped or fallen on a pinnacle of rock, which had entered his head. Mr. Dewar said most impressively: “What a lesson on the lust for gold! Wiberg’s bones lie in the bay at our feet, and his brother’s body lies in the little cemetery away to our left.” Mr. Dewar was firmly convinced that the gold was planted between Waratah and Cape Liptrap. Your readers will be glad to know that out of this welter of misery Mrs. Wiberg came into peaceful days. She married again, for obvious reasons I can not say to whom, but her life undoubtedly then “fell in pleasant places.”—Yours, &c.,Cheltenham. M. HUNTER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS: Sir,—I was much interested to read the article on the buried treasure at Inverloch. It keenly brings to my memory some facts connected with the Wiberg robbery. Turning up an old ledger I found this item, dated September 25, 1879:—

“Load of furniture from Tooradin to Bass Landing for Martin Wiberg. From the landing it was carted to Anderson’s Inlet by bullock waggon. The load consisted of bedstead, chairs, and about 20 boxes, and some were very heavy. Wiberg said they contained carpenter’s tools, &c. We got as far as Queensferry the first night, and Wiberg had a couple of meals with me, and slept at my bachelor quarters that night. We arrived at Bass Landing next day. The bullock dray was loaded up, and Wiberg paid me with two sovereigns, and went with the load.”

Little did I know at the time that the boxes contained so much wealth, or I might have been tempted to put one of them aside. Your account is fairly correct, but It does not mention how suspicion fell on Wiberg. He married a barmaid at Williamstown, and spent money freely, but his wife became jealous and gave the police a hint. A search of his hut ended with some of the money being found in bars of soap and carpenter’s planes. He was then arrested. The officer he kicked into the river was Detective Secretan. Some years later I had a German seaman working for me, by name Martin Kunzie, who came from the same town as Wiberg. He said that when he left home Wiberg was keeping an hotel and that he made no secret that he had been to Australia, and had made his money there. So, in my opinion and that of other old hands very little treasure will ever be found at Inverloch—Yours, &c., Grantville C T WHITE

Transcript The Argus 8 January 1938 – Buried Treasure of Inverlock

Somewhere a Hidden Cache of 15,000 Sovereigns Awaits a Lucky Finder

By JOHN PHILIP

WHAT could you do with 15,000 minted sovereigns, each worth more than £2 of present-day money? Somewhere in Gippsland, near Inverloch, that much gold, it is believed, lies hidden, waiting discovery by some fortunate person. The man who stole the Avoca’s gold hid it so cunningly that police and others have sought it off and on for nearly 60 years, with only a few sovereigns to spur their hopes . . . But here is the story.

A little more than 50 years ago the Avoca, a steamer of a branch line of the P. and O., set sail from Sydney for Melbourne. She had on board the English mails, a chest with about 20,000 newly minted sovereigns, and a ship’s carpenter, Martin Wiberg. Because of a contract forbidding P&O liners to carry mails directly between Sydney and England, the mails and chest were transhipped in Melbourne into the Royal Mail steamer China. And, also in Melbourne, the ship’s carpenter picked a quarrel with the second officer and was discharged.

The China came in due course to Colombo and the chest from the Sydney Mint was examined. It was filled with iron bolts and pig lead. When the news of the disconcerting discovery reached Melbourne, inquiries were naturally made on the Avoca, and the ship’s carpenter, who had been discharged for having insulted the second officer, came under suspicion. The robbery could only have been the work of a man skilled with tools, because the chest, which must have been forced open to remove the gold, appeared, when it was opened in Ceylon, to be untouched. It was thought that Wiberg, the carpenter, could have made his way at night along the keel to the strongroom of the ship, entering it from below. He would then have been able to open the chest and close it again when he had removed the gold. No one ever made any clear suggestion how Wiberg could have taken the gold ashore. Certainly he could not have taken it off the ship in Melbourne. Twenty thousand sovereigns would make an exceedingly heavy parcel. Possibly he sealed the gold in a number of small wooden boxes and threw them overboard to a confederate when the Avoca was passing the lovely Anderson’s Inlet. A few boxes, perhaps a few hundred pounds worth of gold, might have been lost, but the thieves might reason ably have expected to land most of their spoils.

Something like that must have been done. The only difficulty is that it suggests the necessity of a confederate, and if Wiberg had a helper he seems to have been entirely neglected by the police in their investigations. While the China was still on her way to Colombo Wiberg took up land at a delightful place near Inverloch, on the Tarwin, and he was living quietly but apparently prosperously, when the news of the robbery first reached Melbourne. He was sending regular consignments of soap to Melbourne, and when the police became suspicious of Wiberg they examined one of these shipments. Their suspicions were confirmed, for they found a number of sovereigns embedded in the soap. When they investigated further at Inverloch they discovered 200 more sovereigns hidden in Wiberg’s hut. So they promptly arrested him and took him to Melbourne. Wiberg stood his trial for robbery, and he was sentenced to imprisonment for five years. But only 200 odd sovereigns had been found, and the underwriters thought that they could persuade him to restore the rest if part of his sentence were remitted. Wiberg agreed, but said he could not sufficiently describe the various caches in which he had hidden the gold. He would have to lead the police to the places himself. So, escorted by a police sergeant and a constable, he went back to Inverloch.

The first of the hiding places, where he said he had concealed about 1,700 sovereigns, could be reached only from the river. So early one morning, with the sergeant sitting beside the manacled Wiberg in the stern and the constable at the oars, the three men rowed up the wild reaches of the Tarwin River. Presently Wiberg pointed to the bank and said, “The place is in there, under the roots of that gum.” Then, with the eyes of the sergeant and constable fixed on the spot, Wiberg crashed his hand cuffs on the sergeant’s head, and leapt on to the gunwale to upset the boat. Neither policeman could swim, and while they drifted downstream, clinging helplessly to the upturned boat. Wiberg disappeared into the thick bush. Keeping always away from settlers, Wiberg made his way to Anderson’s Inlet, which is one of the loveliest bays along the coast. Unlike the Kelly gang, which was beginning its activities at the time, the former ship’s carpenter never offered violence, and he avoided the few scattered farms. He made his encampment beside Eagle’s Nest, and in the caves near by, which are accessible only at low tide, he must often have hidden. Indeed, it may be in the caves that a great part of his loot was hidden, because it would have been convenient to stow the gold in them when it was taken off the Avoca.

No one had seen him for some months, when a party of police surprised him in his camp at Eagle’s Nest, near Cape Patterson. This time he served part of his sentence, but, with ingenuity equal to that of his first escape, he broke gaol and was never recaptured. There are stories that he became an Innkeeper in Europe, but nothing definite is known. One story was told years later by a Victorian squatter who had been on a journey overseas. He stayed at a small Provencal inn while travelling in France, and was surprised to find that his host had a brother In Victoria who knew Inverloch, and who had told him about the gold robbery. The brother said that the police were fools; they should have made a thorough search, not in the hut but in the ground near it.

THE people in the Provencal village called the innkeeper Andre Duvain, but they thought him a mysterious character. He had lived in the village only five years, and he never spoke of his earlier life. They did not know anything about his brother. The Victorian police made a thorough search of the hut. They recovered more than £1,000 of coined gold hidden in scooped-out pieces of timber, in the seat of a chair and buried under the hearth in a great cake of beeswax. But when they had recovered all that they could there were still more than 15,000 sovereigns missing. And the gold is still waiting for a finder.

Until a few years ago Wiberg’s hut was still standing on Mr. Wyeth’s property, Pine Lodge, Inverloch. Then Mr. Wyeth pulled it down to clear a fairway for a golf course. When the hut was removed every corner and cranny, every stone in the chimney, and every piece of timber was carefully examined without result. But the people of Inverloch still believe that Martin Wiberg’s gold is hidden somewhere there. Perhaps the old innkeeper in Provence, whose mysterious brother had lived at Inverloch, knew more about the hiding place than he told the squatter.

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