The Perth Mint Swindle - Australian True Crime
The Perth Mint Swindle - The Perfect Crime?
In April 1982 somebody broke into a building in Perth, stole a pad of blank cheques, and burnt the place to the ground on the way out. Five weeks later they did it again.
Ten weeks after that, sixty-eight kilograms of gold walked out the front door of the Perth Mint in broad daylight.
Nobody was threatened. Nobody was hurt. Nobody raised their voice. The thief built the entire robbery out of honest strangers: a clerk, three armoured couriers, a temp on her first morning, and a bloke following instructions over a CB radio. Every one of them did their job properly. Not one of them could describe him.
Forty-four years on, the Perth Mint swindle has never been solved.
Sources:
ABC News 2008, Mickelbergs to receive $1 million ex gratia payment, 16 January, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-01-16/mickelbergs-to-receive-1-million-ex-gratia-payment/1013980
ABC News 2008, Mickelberg brothers vow to fight on, 19 January, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-01-19/mickelberg-brothers-vow-to-fight-on/1017342
ABC News 2013, Mickelberg matriarch dies of old age, 28 August, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-28/peggy-mickelberg/4917362
Mayes, A 2023, The other Perth Mint scandal: The Mickelberg brothers and the great gold swindle, ABC News, 1 April, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-01/the-other-perth-mint-scandal-of-the-mickelberg-brothers-swindle/102113790
Pallaras, S 1999, The Mickelberg Saga and the Public Purse, Criminal Lawyers Association of the Northern Territory, Seventh Biennial Conference, Kuta, Bali, 27 June to 2 July, https://clant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/the-bali-conference/1999/Pallaras-Stephen-The-Mickelberg-Saga-amp-thePublic-Purse-BampW.pdf
Perth Mint, 2025, Iconic Moments in the Perth Mint's History. https://www.perthmint.com/news/stories/history/iconic-moments-in-the-perth-mints-history
Western Australian Government 2002, New evidence on Mickelberg case referred to Police Royal Commission, media statement, 10 June, https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Gallop%20Labor%20Government/New-evidence-on-Mickelberg-case-referred-to-Police-Royal-Commission-20020610
Western Australian Government 2008, Ex-gratia payment to Ray and Peter Mickelberg, media statement, 16 January, https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Carpenter%20Labor%20Government/Ex-gratia-payment-to-Ray-and-Peter-Mickelberg-20080116
Wikipedia, Perth Mint Swindle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Mint_Swindle
In April 1982 somebody broke into a building in Perth, stole a pad of blank cheques, and burnt the place to the ground on the way out. Five weeks later they did it again.
Ten weeks after that, sixty-eight kilograms of gold walked out the front door of the Perth Mint in broad daylight.
Nobody was threatened. Nobody was hurt. Nobody raised their voice. The thief built the entire robbery out of honest strangers: a clerk, three armoured couriers, a temp on her first morning, and a bloke following instructions over a CB radio. Every one of them did their job properly. Not one of them could describe him.
Forty-four years on, the Perth Mint swindle has never been solved.
Sources:
ABC News 2008, Mickelbergs to receive $1 million ex gratia payment, 16 January, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-01-16/mickelbergs-to-receive-1-million-ex-gratia-payment/1013980
ABC News 2008, Mickelberg brothers vow to fight on, 19 January, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-01-19/mickelberg-brothers-vow-to-fight-on/1017342
ABC News 2013, Mickelberg matriarch dies of old age, 28 August, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-28/peggy-mickelberg/4917362
Mayes, A 2023, The other Perth Mint scandal: The Mickelberg brothers and the great gold swindle, ABC News, 1 April, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-01/the-other-perth-mint-scandal-of-the-mickelberg-brothers-swindle/102113790
Pallaras, S 1999, The Mickelberg Saga and the Public Purse, Criminal Lawyers Association of the Northern Territory, Seventh Biennial Conference, Kuta, Bali, 27 June to 2 July, https://clant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/the-bali-conference/1999/Pallaras-Stephen-The-Mickelberg-Saga-amp-thePublic-Purse-BampW.pdf
Perth Mint, 2025, Iconic Moments in the Perth Mint's History. https://www.perthmint.com/news/stories/history/iconic-moments-in-the-perth-mints-history
Western Australian Government 2002, New evidence on Mickelberg case referred to Police Royal Commission, media statement, 10 June, https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Gallop%20Labor%20Government/New-evidence-on-Mickelberg-case-referred-to-Police-Royal-Commission-20020610
Western Australian Government 2008, Ex-gratia payment to Ray and Peter Mickelberg, media statement, 16 January, https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Carpenter%20Labor%20Government/Ex-gratia-payment-to-Ray-and-Peter-Mickelberg-20080116
Wikipedia, Perth Mint Swindle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Mint_Swindle