Strewth - Australian True Crime and Mystery Podcast

Australian Train Heist Mysteries
In December 1973, two men in black stopped a train in the rainforest above Cairns, took the track workers' wages off it at gunpoint and vanished down a drain into the scrub. Thirty-five years earlier and half a state away, a mine payroll was lifted out of a locked mail van on the dark run to Mount Isa, so cleanly that a full day went by before anyone knew it was gone. Two railways, two payrolls, and two impeccable railway heists.
This week on Strewth, the Phantoms of the Line.
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Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay
Sources:
"MAIL TRAIN ROBBERY. £3,000 IN NOTES STOLEN. North Queensland Haul." Brisbane, 31 August 1938.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/42110600

"MAIL TRAIN ROBBERY. BRISBANE DETECTIVES. Called In To Assist." Brisbane, 4 September 1938. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/62172323

ABC News, "Mystery of Australia's Great Kuranda rail robbery remains unsolved 50 years on," 2023.

Queensland Police Museum, "FROM the VAULT - Silk Yards and a Railway Guard,"

The Workshops Rail Museum (Queensland Museum), "Railway Mysteries," David Mewes, 25 June 2014. https://blog.qm.qld.gov.au/2014/06/25/railway-mysteries/ Secondary (retrospective features)

The Cairns Post, "Cairns mystery: 1973 Kuranda rail armed robbery," Pete Martinelli, 2018.

ABC News, "Deathbed confession solves 66-year-old robbery case," 10 February 2005.

The Disappearance of Peter Falconio - Part 2 of 2
Bradley Murdoch was convicted of Peter Falconio's murder and died in prison still denying it. Twenty-five years on, there is still no body, and some of the evidence that put him away has never stopped being argued over. In part two of two we analyse the evidence, the doubts, the stories, and leave you holding the one question a jury, a judge and a dying man could not close.
Where is Peter Falconio?
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Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast  
Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast    
Contact me - strewthpodcast@gmail.com 
Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay
Sources:
"25 years on: How Joanne Lees escaped the fate of Peter Falconio," Woman's Day, 12 July 2026. https://www.nowtolove.com.au/true-crime/joanne-lees-peter-falconio-25-years/

"A Quarter-Century Search for Answers," Nine , 2026. https://www.nineforbrands.com.au/media-release/a-quarter-century-search-for-answers/

"Outback Terror: The Falconio Murder: Documentary revives search for remains in Australia's Northern Territory," Victoria Laurie, The Sydney Morning Herald (Nine network), 2026. https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-documentary-reviving-the-search-for-peter-falconio-s-remains-20260712-p60enu.html

"Peter Falconio: Australian police reveal previously unseen photos 25 years after backpacker murder," BBC News, 14 July 2026. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlwln0gkzlo

"Police release new footage of Northern Territory killer days before death," Nine 10 July 2026. https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/nt/bradley-john-murdoch-police-footage-peter-falconio-20260711-p60ehc.html

"Peter Falconio murder: British expert says he has identified a 'most likely' burial location," The Guardian, 18 July 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/18/peter-falconio-british-expert-says-he-has-identified-a-most-likely-burial-location

"Peter Falconio's body could be 70km from murder scene, former police officer says," Courtney Barrett, ABC News, 14 July 2026. abc.net.au/news/peter-falconio-body-investigator-nt-missing-person-search/106911332

The Disappearance of Peter Falconio - Part 1 of 2
July 2001. A young English couple drive north into the Australian desert, and only one of them is ever seen again. Joanne Lees escapes a killer on the loneliest road in the country, hides for hours in the dark, and walks out to raise the alarm. Plenty of armchair detectives are quick to decide that she is the one with something to hide.
In part one of two: the crime, the manhunt, and the survivor who was put on trial by everyone except the law.
Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast  
Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast    
Contact me - strewthpodcast@gmail.com 
Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay
Sources:
"25 years on: How Joanne Lees escaped the fate of Peter Falconio," Woman's Day, 12 July 2026. https://www.nowtolove.com.au/true-crime/joanne-lees-peter-falconio-25-years/

"A Quarter-Century Search for Answers," Nine , 2026. https://www.nineforbrands.com.au/media-release/a-quarter-century-search-for-answers/

"Outback Terror: The Falconio Murder: Documentary revives search for remains in Australia's Northern Territory," Victoria Laurie, The Sydney Morning Herald (Nine network), 2026. https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-documentary-reviving-the-search-for-peter-falconio-s-remains-20260712-p60enu.html

"Peter Falconio: Australian police reveal previously unseen photos 25 years after backpacker murder," BBC News, 14 July 2026. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlwln0gkzlo

"Police release new footage of Northern Territory killer days before death," Nine 10 July 2026. https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/nt/bradley-john-murdoch-police-footage-peter-falconio-20260711-p60ehc.html

"Peter Falconio murder: British expert says he has identified a 'most likely' burial location," The Guardian, 18 July 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/18/peter-falconio-british-expert-says-he-has-identified-a-most-likely-burial-location

"Peter Falconio's body could be 70km from murder scene, former police officer says," Courtney Barrett, ABC News, 14 July 2026. abc.net.au/news/peter-falconio-body-investigator-nt-missing-person-search/106911332

Up the Back - The Disappearance of Garry Conwell
On a winter morning in 2024, Garry Conwell told his partner he was heading up the back to check the cattle. He went out in a dressing gown and work boots, because he wasn't going far.
His quad bike was found by a creek about fifteen minutes' walk from his own kitchen. Not bogged. Not damaged. Nobody on it.
What followed was the biggest search that district has ever seen. Helicopters, drones, sonar, police rescue, SES, cadaver dogs. On 265 acres, they found two things.
Police told the family a disorientated man couldn't have gone far. They also couldn't find him. Both of those can't be true.
Garry's story comes from LOST, the new book from Nicole Morris, Director of the Australian Missing Persons Register, out July 28th. https://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/lost/
If you know anything about the disappearance of Garry Conwell, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.


Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast  
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Contact us - strewthpodcast@gmail.com  
Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay

While it is now an affluent Melbourne suburb, Williamstown, or King William's Town as it was originally known has had quite the chequered past. In this episode of Strewth, we tell some good old fashioned ghost stories and explore the truth behind the tales. You'll hear about a ruined opera singer who lost his voice and permanently took a room above a pub. An eighteen year old barmaid, dead of a poison the Government analyst swore couldn't have killed her, and the man who bemoans her death still.
Then a Strewth listener, Matt tells us what he and three mates met on a cold night in a quiet street in Williamstown.
Lantern Ghost Tours, Williamstown - https://www.lanternghosttours.com/
Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast 
Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast  
Contact us - strewthpodcast@gmail.com  
Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay
Sources:
"Suicide of Mr. John De Haga", The Argus 5th October, 1872 via Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5840007

"The Williamstown Poisoning Case", The Leader (Melbourne), 4 February 1888.

February 1862 Williamstown fire (Cole Street / Steam Packet / old Ship Inn). butlerfamilyhistoryaus.blogspot.com,

Early Williamstown colour: the "Bucket of Blood" shanty (attrib. Michael Cannon, "Old Melbourne Town") and the 1841 "nineteen residents, six publicans" figure (attrib. Paul McGuire, "Inns of Australia").

Jacqui Travaglia, Lantern Ghost Tours (Williamstown) — background provided directly to the production on the Timeball Tower and Steam Packet Hotel hauntings, including John Price, Richard Vaughan and the lady in white, John De Haga, Jane Nicholls, "Charles", and the reported staff experiences (moving glassware, footsteps, the knocking cupboard, the bed account).