The chief justice studied it and read its number. Counsel haggled over it, held meetings, and weighed it in their hands. It was passed over to the jury who in turn weighed it, discussed it, and even rolled it. Then the judge’s associate took control, placed it in a clean white envelope — this was the most important exhibit in a ground-breaking Australian legal case. I told a version of this story live on West Bremer Radio.

The item was a small wooden marble from the great Ipswich Golden Casket conspiracy of 1932, and it left a huge legacy.

The conspiracy happened under the watch of the great Bill Noble. Noble was the Australian rugby league representative who played in the New South Wales Rugby League’s first ever premiership season with Newtown in 1908. He made his full debut for Australia in 1910 when he played in the first ever test match against Great Britain on Australian soil, he played on the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, and captained Balmain in his final season.

But now, at the height of the Great Depression, Noble was in charge of Queensland’s Golden Casket when everyone was needing to make a dollar, some in any way they could. It was one of the most unusual conspiracies and it was centred on Ipswich and Brisbane. It was an attempt to defraud the Golden Casket Art Union of £6,000 which is two and a half million dollars in today’s money.

First there was Donald Mackay. He was the Golden Casket accountant and he played the inside role of the swindle. Then there was William Evans who was unemployed and living with his wife and family in Yarraman Street, Windsor, on Brisbane’s northside. It was his role to buy the ticket and provide a boy to perform the most important part.

Mackay gave Evans £1 for him to go to Ipswich and buy ticket number 65,764 from Nolan’s Casket Agency. It was on the corner of Nicholas and Brisbane streets which today is known as Nolan’s corner.

The two men then met outside of Perry House on the corner of Albert and Elizabeth streets in Brisbane. That’s where Mackay gave Evans marble number 65,764 for Evans to pass onto his son. This was the fourteen-year-old Noel Evans who would draw the first prize. That’s how it was done back then, children picked the winning marbles from a barrel.

And so the next morning young Noel reported to the Bohemia Theatre in South Brisbane where the drawing was to take place. He told officials his name was Fred Thomas which was the name listed to draw first prize. The name and position had been arranged by Mackay.

But a government official there noticed something in Noel’s hand. He pulled the boy aside, opened his fist and found marble number 65,754. Noel, however, was allowed to proceed with the drawing so as to not to alarm the public. Police were immediately summoned and detectives were waiting as the youngster left the theatre.

Noel told the detectives that a big Russian had given him the marble. But his father Evans stepped in and confessed that he had given the marble to his son. Young Noel then also admitted to what he had done.

Mackay and Evans were both found guilty but the jury asked for leniency and the judge obliged. The men were each sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence with a £300 good behaviour bond. The son Noel was acquitted. 

Evans who roped his fourteen-year-old son into the conspiracy only lived another fourteen years and today is buried in Toowong Cemetery in Brisbane.

Noel achieved redemption for his role in the conspiracy, when seven years later he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy. He served for the duration of the Second World War and was awarded a Good Conduct Badge. 

And the legacy of the Ipswich conspiracy – it’s those machines that you see dropping the numbers today. They were immediately implemented following discovery of the conspiracy, and children were never used again.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON WEST BREMER RADIO.

Photo credits:
Golden Casket Conspiracy – Microsoft Designer AI.
W.S. Noble – Telegraph, Brisbane, 29th November 1937, page 12.
Donald Mackay – Truth, Brisbane, 23rd October 1932, page 1.
Nolan’s Corner, corner of Brisbane & Nicholas Streets, Ipswich, c1970 – Picture Ipswich.
William Llewellyn Evans – Truth, Brisbane, 20th November 1932, page 19.
William LLewellyn Evans, Toowong Cemetery – Find a Grave by Iris Flower 2022.
Bohemia Theatre, 111 Stanley Street, South Brisbane, c1959 – Suburbmaps Instagram page, 2024.