ROBBERY AT THE HOBART MUSEUM

A robbery occurred  at the Hobart Museum (now The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery)  on  the night of April 16 1905. It  was believed to be the work of  mainland criminals , targeting items  which could be melted down and sold as bullion. Security at the institution was said to be  poor,  although its highly regarded  Curator, Mr Alexander Morton,  appeared to escape any blame.

The following is just part of what was taken;

Oh my goodness, what a loss. Many of the items taken in the robbery were  from a 1904 bequest to the Museum by Lady Clara Dry. Lady Clara  was  the wealthy, well travelled  widow of Sir Richard Dry, the first Tasmanian born premier of the State and the first Tasmanian to receive a knighthood.  To have lost the entire collection  (apart a couple of teaspoons) within a few months  must have galling for  Hobart, particularly  given  the rivalry between the south and the north of the State.  The bequest had been divided between the Hobart and Launceston museums.

SOURCE – TASMANIAN NEWS, NOV. 1 1904

LADY CLARA DRY – SOURCE, WEEKLY COURIER

From the very beginning there was press criticism of  police efforts to solve the case. Naturally there was  self interest by  The Mercury in demanding more information. They felt they were missing out on scoops;

The police, apparently strong in the faith  that they can do detective work unaided, jealous perhaps  of any outsider sharing in the kudos of a clever  capture, have asked for silence. It is true that a scant announcement of a reward for information has been made, but beyond this and the filing of lists of the plunder at police stations, of all places the least visited from choice by ordinary people, honest or otherwise, no   publicity has been made. And so the museum remains despoiled of many choice treasures. The thieves, whether common burglars or insatiable collectors of curios, are laughing in their sleeves, and the proverb ‘speech is silver, silence is gold’ stands refuted as applied to police tactics.’  (The Mercury, April 28 1905)

Other  criticisms of the police force were  that it was undermanned and that the men it did have were only concerned with drills,  uniforms  and helmets and had no interest in catching crooks at all. 😎  There was a suggestion that during the tourist season, special detectives should be recruited from the mainland, because the island had earned a reputation as a soft touch for criminals.

ROBBERY SOLVED?

One of the detectives who was active  on the case was  the experienced Sergeant Ward. However, he  allowed  himself to be sidetracked by his suspicion of a recently arrived  ex-convict from New South Wales who went by the name of Thomas Finch. It led to an extraordinary story, which will form part two of this blog.

NOTE – In 1905 the Launceston Museum lacked the space to display their ten cartons  of treasures from the Lady Dry bequest, which may be why they still have them to this day. They were the subject of a newspaper article in The Examiner as recently as 2020.

FOR PART TWO OF THIS STORY, CLICK HERE.