1978 Murwillumbah bank robbery

On the evening of 22 November 1978, thieves broke through the rear doors of the Bank of New South Wales and then, using a medical cystoscope and other specialised equipment, broke into the Chubb safe and took its entire contents. Their signature tool was an electromagnetic diamond-tipped drill. The process of breaking into the safe took several hours and, after taking its contents, the thieves jammed the safe shut. During the robbery, local people did not see or hear anything unusual. == The Magnetic Drill Gang ==

The robbery is believed to have been committed by the Magnetic Drill Gang, who had already stolen approximately $1 million in at least nine robberies in Sydney and Melbourne using the same tools, namely the diamond-tipped drill, and a circular electro-magnet holding it in place. All of these robberies had been from Chubb safes and the gang is believed to have honed their skills with these on a safe door they had stolen in Melbourne in 1976. == Aftermath ==

The robbery was not discovered until 7:30am the next day (23 November 1978) when a patrolling security officer noticed that the rear door was open. It then took bank staff, police, Chubb safe experts and finally local council workers nine hours, until 4:30pm, to open the safe and confirm that its contents had been stolen. This was despite a $250,000 reward on offer. Also in 1979, some of the money stolen from Murwillumbah was cashed in at a bank in Hong Kong which then became the centre of an investigation trying to establish how much of money had been laundered through there. Since the robbery it has been alleged that Graham Kinniburgh, a safe cracker, was involved in the crime. However, in 2021 Robert Bertram “Bertie” Kidd, who has since died, claimed to have planned the robbery but to have been unable to attend on the night, as he was "unexpectedly detained in prison"; many do not believe this claim as all information shared by Kidd was well known. == In popular culture ==

Murwillumbah soon gained notoriety for the crime and the t-shirts, and much of the merchandise created, was made by local man Peter Moore who owned the local menswear store. The t-shirts showed a 'ocker type' man, with a beer belly and hairy legs with the words "they got the lot" across the top and, to keep up with demand, Moore worked 18 hours a day screen-printing them. It is believed that Ronnie Biggs, who helped plan and execute the Great Train Robbery of 1963, ordered three shirts while on the run in Rio de Janeiro. A year later Moore released a follow up version "enjoying the lot" showing the same man relaxing under a palm tree. In 1979, the Bullamakankas included the robbery as being part of the inspiration for the single "Murwillumbah Bank Job". Part of the lyrics of this song are: {{poem quote They took two million dollars and they put it on the map And they had the bank vault covered they knew just what to do They came, they saw, they conquered and then they all shot through ==See also==