Bertie Kidd: the untold story of Australia’s “criminal royalty”

Robber, safe-cracker, forger, and fixer – there aren’t many Australian cops who haven’t heard of Bertie Kidd.  Although he’s scarcely made headlines in his decades-long criminal career, Kidd has been involved with some of the most notorious underworld figures.

Kidd emigrated from England to Australia when he was a teenager.  By the 1960s he was already embroiled in a forgery scheme printing unofficial $10 bank notes. 

Famous Melbourne barrister Brian Bourke represented Kidd, and he was ultimately acquitted after two handwriting experts contradicted each other’s evidence during cross-examination.

Hear how handwriting can help solve crime on this episode of Crime Insiders:

Kidd established himself as “criminal royalty” by the end of the 1960’s. It was then he meant John Killick, the robber who would go on to escape Silverwater prison in 1999, who described him as “one of the best crooks” in Australian history.

During the 1970’s Kidd’s crimes started catching up with him.  Despite achieving 19 acquittals in Victoria – which he admits was only possible by bribing police – he was sentenced to five years for stealing $240 from a factory safe in Melbourne.

His most famous crime became known as the Great Plane Robbery.  In 1982, Kidd smuggled himself onto a plane that was transporting $1 million in Reserve Bank notes out of Rockhampton.  

Attempting to steal the money, the plan came undone when someone noticed his accomplice’s hand sticking out of a crate.

The 1990s saw a string of suspicions against Bertie Kidd.  He was identified as the owner of two separate weapons used to murder underworld figures Roy Thurgar and Dex Lewis.  Kidd escaped conviction that time, but was later found guilty of shooting a police officer in a botched robbery.

In 2004, when Kidd was in his seventies, he was charged over a series of violent armed robberies and home invasions that he had committed in his sixties.  When he was up for release in 2015, then-Immigration Minister Peter Dutton wanted to deport Kidd back to England.

Ultimately, Bertie Kidd was able to avoid deportation due to his national service in the 1950’s, and now is a “peacefully retired” grandfather.  

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