Perth Mint is perhaps the world’s oldest operating mint still in its original location since 1899. While visiting I discovered a unusual story of a gold nugget robbery in Warwick, Queensland, that sent the unlucky perpetrator to prison on St Helena Island. I told a version of this story live on Darling Downs radio 4AK.

At the Perth Mint (pictured above) I witnessed traditional gold pouring of a gold bar, and there’s also the biggest legal tender coin in the world. It’s an Australian coin with a face value of $1 million, weighs one tonne, is 99.99% pure gold, and has a gold value of over $80 million.

I’ve picked up a gold nugget here for myself and will be bringing that home, but there’s also the true story about a gold nugget that was stolen in Warwick 128 years ago that proved to be the undoing of a really unlucky thief.

The robbery was committed on the 10th of February 1897 at the residence in Warwick of Mr. William Mathew Morgan. Mr. Morgan’s father was a convict who was sentenced to death before being transported to Australia, his brothers were the first to exploit the rich gold mine at Mount Morgan in central Queensland, and Mr. Morgan himself would be mayor of Warwick three times.

While the Morgan family were all out attending the Warwick agricultural show, their home was broken into and valuables of all descriptions were stolen. There were diamonds, gold bracelets, chains, brooches and watches, chips of gold, and one unique gold nugget that weighed about an ounce. All up about £150 worth was stolen. That’s over a quarter of a million dollars today, so it was a lot of money.

Three days later and Detective Thomas Seymour was on the case. He was one of Queensland’s top policemen and would go on to serve thirty-five years on the force. Anyway, he positioned himself outside the longest standing pawn shop in the colony. It was run by Samuel Simmonds in Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, in Brisbane, and would carry on business there for around thirty-five years.

While Detective Seymour was outside, he saw a young man by the name of Frank Burns enter the shop and so he followed him in. Inside Burns offered an item for sale. Seymour swooped and Burns was arrested with a nugget of gold and a quantity of gold chips in his possession.

Burns refused to say where he got the gold nugget from, but regardless, he was charged in Brisbane’s Central Police Court with having the stolen nugget in his possession. He still refused to say how he got the nugget, and so with no evidence that Burns was the thief, or even that this was the stolen gold, Burns was released.

Detective Seymour wouldn’t have it and so re-arrested Burns, and this time charged him with stealing a quantity of jewellery from the residence of Mr. William Morgan in Warwick. To that Burns asked, “Where is Warwick?”

Again Detective Seymour went to work and discovered that Burns had just come from Warwick, and strangely changed trains four times between Warwick and Ipswich, before he arrived in Brisbane.

Burns was again brought up in the Brisbane Central Police Court, and this time remanded to Warwick, where he was committed for trial. But for the man accused of one of the most famous robberies in Warwick at the time, it was still not certain that he would be convicted.

Detective Seymour needed more than just circumstantial evidence. There was no confession, no jewellery, and the small nugget could be anyone’s. So more in hope, the nugget of gold was sent to Warwick. It must have been an incredibly unique nugget because it was actually identified by the mayor as being his. 

That broke the will of Burns who then pleaded guilty and offered to show where he had hidden the jewellery, but if only his judge would show leniency. So they all traipsed about three miles out of Brisbane to the Boggo Junction, which is near where Boggo Road is today. Burns pointed to a waterhole, at the bottom in the centre of which all the jewellery was found, except for the gold watches and diamonds. They may still be there today, buried somewhere under the suburban homes of Brisbane.

Burns was sentenced to serve time on St Helena Island in Moreton Bay. But he wouldn’t have served anything if only he had kept his mouth shut and not confessed. That’s because how the mayor of Warwick could positively identify a one-ounce nugget of gold is anyone’s guess.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON RADIO 4AK.

Photo credits:
Perth Mint, 2025 – Harold Peacock 20250810_161426.
World’s biggest coin, Perth Mint, 2025 – Harold Peacock 20250810_145108.
Alderman W.M. Morgan, 1900 – State Library of Queensland.
Queensland Police Courts, Elizabeth Street, c1906 – State Library of Queensland.