Unsolved: 1978 Murwillumbah bank robbery

It been 44 years since a North Coast bank employee called out “they got the lot” - marking one of Australia’s biggest unsolved bank heists.

A magnetic rig, $1.7 million and an unsolved case that still haunts the Northern NSW town of Murwillumbah.

The year was 1978 and it was described as a muggy November 23 night when the town’s bank was broken into in one of Australia’s biggest heists.

Back in the 1970s, Murwillumbah was better known as the small sugar caning sister of Tweed Heads but as the sleepy town dreamt, five skilled bank robbers had found their perfect target.

Without interruption, the men broke into the Bank of NSW (now Westpac) on the town’s main street, just steps from the police station - through the wooden back door, making for the strongroom.

The Courier-Mail front page after the Murwillumbah bank robbery in 1978. Photo: News Corp

There, they set up a sophisticated magnetic drilling rig and proceeded to bust open the vault and steal $1,763,400 worth of bills.

In today’s money that equates to about $9.6 million.

According to The Tweed Daily News records, when they were done, the gang removed the dials and the handle to the Chubb safe and jammed the tumblers to the lockers on the strongroom.

Reporters quiz police over the sophisticated Murwillumbah bank robbery.

It was only when the morning security guard noticed the wooden doors slightly ajar on the morning of the 24th, that the extent of the heist was made apparent.

Dozens of residents huddled outside the bank as police, safe installation experts, and council work crew tried to get inside the jammed doors.

Nine hours after the fugitives had made their million dollar escape, a bank official stuck his head through the door and confirmed what all had suspected stating: “They got the lot”.

It was a slogan that would later adorn t-shirts, tea towels and more.

Police at the time said it was a unique method of busting into a safe, perfected after a safe door was stolen from a Melbourne store in 1976.

Quickly fingers turned to the Magnetic Drill Gang.

The gang had already been blamed for a string of robberies in Melbourne before the Murwillumbah job, including the theft of $350,000 in cash from an American Express office and $250,000 of diamonds, gold, and jewellery from a jewellers.

Both businesses used Chubb safes similar to the one in Murwillumbah.

Newspaper maps of the robbery at the time.

The crime had also been precise, as a slip when drilling above the tumblers would have spelt disaster for the thieves.

To this day the crime has never been solved.

While wild speculation flew from those who believed the joint was cased from the next-door Imperial Hotel, or an inside job or holiday-makers from the Gold Coast, no leads ever resulted in an arrest.

Murwillumbah Bank of NSW, pictured in the 1970s.

Murwillumbah Historical Society researcher Joan Cuthel was 24 at the time of the robbery and told the Tweed Daily News in 2017 the region was still intrigued with the crime.

“It was just a huge deal for this small area, a lot of people were fascinated, it was just a huge amount that was stolen,” Ms Cuthel said.

“There was a sign out the front of the bank the next morning which said: ‘We apologise for any inconvenience’, and that was a bit of a giggle.

“People thought it was an inside job, and that went around town for quite a while.

“The fact that it hasn’t been solved, it makes you feel as if something has been hidden or swept under the carpet.”

In 2013, there was talk of rekindling an investigation into the robbery and The Guardian reports the case file is still officially open as of 2022.