The Great Bookie Robbery

The Turf Bar and Restaurant opened in March 2000, originally called ‘The Turf Accountants’. ‘The Turf Accountant’ is the original licensed name for a bookie or bookmaker. This term is not common in Australia, it originated in the United Kingdom where Turf Accountants can still be found today operating on a professional level. 131 Queen Street was originally the Victorian Club, which was the settling ground for local bookmakers and their elite clientele.

In this building on Wednesday 21 April 1976 at 12.05pm, approximately six armed robbers barricaded the Victorian Club on level two, where bookmakers were preparing to ‘settle’ after a particularly profitable Easter Racing Carnival. The haul was at least $1.3 million possibly more and took only 11 minutes. These armed robbers made quite a name for themselves with their cool and calm approach executing their crime with no known injuries. Nobody was ever convicted for this crime, the money has never been recovered and all major suspects are no longer with us.

This robbery was Australia’s biggest at the time and became known as:
The Great Bookie Robbery