Dispute over ownership of Toowoomba Bypass coin hoard ends in settlement

An almost two year dispute over the ownership of more than 5600 coins found buried on the site of the Toowoomba Bypass has been resolved.

A dispute over the ownership of “one of the greatest cultural heritage discoveries in recent state history” is at an end.

More than 5600 coins were found on the construction site of the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing in 2016 and 2017.

Syd Volker, a farmer and descendant of the Müller family – who once owned the land where archaeologists believe the coins were buried – and Toowoomba real estate agent and property developer Leon Carlile had both laid claim to the coins.

The dispute, which has gone on for almost two years, came to a head in the Toowoomba District Court on Tuesday.

1914 King George V shillings from Hoard B.

But after District Court Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC raised his concerns about the way in which the issue had been brought before the court by Mr Volker’s legal representatives, both parties took advantage of an adjournment to broker a settlement.

Returning to court, Mr Volker’s barrister told Judge Horneman-Wren the adjournment had given the parties “a chance to have some discussions and we think we might be near a settlement”.

The terms of the settlement are confidential – though the court heard any settlement would require the participation of the Crown, whose representatives were not present in court on Tuesday.

Lawyers for Mr Volker and Mr Carlile were unavailable when contacted yesterday.

The estimated street value of the coins, according to archaeologists, was between $23,000 and $30,000.

But beyond the street value of the coins, it was probably, an archaeological report commissioned by Toowoomba Bypass builder Nexus noted, “the largest coin hoard of modern British and Commonwealth coins (excluding antique bullion recovered from shipwrecks in Western Australia or Chinese cash hoards from the Palmer goldfields) reported in Australia”.

“The recovery of the TSRC coin hoard should be regarded as one of the greatest cultural heritage discoveries of recent Queensland history,” the report said.

Turnstone Archaeology's Michael Strong, in the middle of the painstaking work that was grading coins.

In documents filed last year with the court, Mr Volker made a claim for the coins on the basis they were a part of his family’s history and that he remained “the true owner of the coins as he did not relinquish or abandon his ownership of the coins when he sold the properties to Queensland Hot Property Sales in 2014/15 either under the terms of the contract/s or at common law”.

The documents also showed Mr Carlile claimed ownership of the coins on the basis of a contract of sale where he purchased the property and all other rights.

To read the incredible three-part story of the coin’s discovery and the subsequent dispute, head here.