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Words: Gideon HaighProducer: Louise Starkey
Meet Australia's most infamous treasure hunter
After years of research and exploration, Australia's oldest shipwreck, Trial, was located 17km west-north-west of Western Australia’s Montebello Islands on May 3, 1969.
Claiming credit for the discovery was Alan Robinson, a colourful treasure hunter with an explosive legacy.
Picture: Western Australia Museum
The scuba revolution in the 1950s enabled Robinson to discover his passion for scavenging, which helped him firstly discover the wreck of the Gilt Dragon while diving 80km north of Perth in 1957.
Picture: Facebook | Alan Robinson - Underwater Explorer
Now I realised how men would react in a gold rush.
Alan Robinson
Source: The Daily News, September 18, 1957
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Picture: Facebook | Alan Robinson - Underwater Explorer
Failing to retrace his steps to re-locate the Gilt Dragon's wreck sparked an obsession deep within Robinson. He needed to find the ship — so much so that he quit his Perth sales job, and left his wife and kids, to hunt for it.
Picture: Facebook | Alan Robinson - Underwater Explorer
Loot was a big motivator, to the point where Robinson used explosives to deter other treasure hunters and divers from going anywhere near the Gilt Dragon after re-locating it.
Taking sole credit for discoveries was another, with Robinson eventually being sued by co-venturer and Trial co-founder Eric Christiansen for slander.
Picture: Western Australia Museum
Robinson became well known to police after that. He was charged in relation to his handling of a ballast brick from the Gilt Dragon, and was arrested for a string of offences including assaulting a man with a baseball bat.
Later, he was prosecuted under the new Historic Shipwrecks Act for trading in recovered coins. He then gave erratic interviews, boasting of wealth, complaining of pennilessness, hinting of great discoveries and planning further searches.
Picture: Facebook | Alan Robinson - Underwater Explorer
But that was not the end of it... Swipe up for a deep-dive into Robinson's colourful past.

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/web-stories/free/the-australian/meet-alan-robinson-australias-most-infamous-treasure-hunter