In 1877, five thousand freshly minted gold sovereigns were shipped out of Sydney, bound for Ceylon on a ship called the Avoca. When the strong box was finally opened at Galle, there was nothing inside but sawdust and iron bolts. The gold had vanished from a locked strongroom, behind seals that nobody had broken.
The man behind it was the Avoca's carpenter, a quiet Norwegian named Martin Weiberg, who understood the bones of a ship better than anyone aboard and used this knowledge to pull off one of Australia's greatest maritime heists.
What became of Martin Weiberg, and of the gold he hid so well that most of it is still out there, is a question South Gippsland has been asking for nearly a hundred and fifty years.
"Buried Treasure of Inverloch: Somewhere a Hidden Cache of 15,000 Sovereigns Awaits a Lucky Finder." By John Philip. The Argus (Melbourne), 8 January 1938. [Trove: nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11138634]
"The Rumoured Drowning of Martin Weiberg." 19 October 1883 (referenced via ABC Gippsland reporting)
The Age (Melbourne), 29 October 1878, report of Weiberg's arrest (quoted in ABC Gippsland reporting)
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