Accountant Travis Austerberry steals $479,000 from Belvoir Park Golf Club as treasurer

The treasurer of a Bendigo golf club stole nearly $480,000 to fuel a long-term gambling addiction which has sent his career as an accountant into the rough.

The course at Belvoir Park Golf Club at Ravenswood in Bendigo, where Travis Austerberry (not pictured) stole nearly $480,000 as treasurer. Photo: Belvoir Park Golf Club

A qualified accountant stole almost $480,000 from a regional golf club to feed a longstanding gambling problem and will never again “be put in charge of the piggy bank”.

Travis Garth Austerberry, 40, faced Bendigo County Court on Friday, where it was heard he took $479,695 by way of 271 separate thefts from Belvoir Park Golf Club in Ravenswood when he was treasurer there.

Between April 2020 and November 2022, Austerberry used another worker’s login details, which were pre-filled on a computer, to approve transactions disguised as tax payments to his own bank account.

He used the money to gamble in “significant and increasing quantities,” Judge Geoffrey Chettle said.

Austerberry sought to repay the funds through false tax returns, by which method he retrieved some $113,000 for the golf club.

But a query about one payment by the club led to an audit which uncovered his crimes.

Austerberry, who was born in Melbourne and grew up in Bendigo, was arrested on April 4, 2023 and told police he had a gambling addiction.

He consequently quit his job.

Belvoir Park Golf Club was “shaken” by Austerberry’s breach of trust as treasurer. Photo: Belvoir Park Golf Club

The court heard Austerberry gambled on horses when he was 16 years old, and by 18 had begun to put more and more money on the line.

Eventually he became “addicted to the rush of winning”, Judge Chettle said.

By the time Austerberry stole from Belvoir Park Golf Club, he was “putting as many bets on as he could”.

At times he gambled “tens of thousands of dollars a day” and his “disorder” was aggravated by betting agencies incentivising him with extra money and invitations to corporate boxes at sporting events.

Judge Chettle said Austerberry’s prospects of rehabilitation were good, but that he was unlikely to ever again “be put in charge of the piggy bank”.

“He’s thrown away his career,” he said.

Austerberry pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced to three years in prison with a non-parole period of two years.

Belvoir Park Golf Club had much of the stolen money covered by its insurance, but delayed planned capital expenditure and was said to have been “shaken” by Austerberry’s breach of trust.

An order was made for the restitution of any outsanding amount owed to the club.