On Thursday evening, 27th September 1855, James Ferguson was held up at gun point in the vicinity of the Exhibition Building in Melbourne. The thieves threatened to shoot him if he resisted and stole £50 pounds from him, a letter addressed to his business partner James Urie and some contracts for work. This event could have changed the course of history in many ways. If he had been shot I might not be here writing this history at all! The other thing that begs an answer is ‘what was he doing with five ten pound notes’? That was close to carrying around about $10,000 AU in your wallet [amount updated based on some great comments to this post].
The Argus, Melbourne, Saturday 29th September 1855, page 6.
“STICKING UP – On Thursday evening, between ten and eleven o’clock, Mr. James Ferguson was attacked by two men, -one of whom was armed with a pistol, and threatened to shoot him if he made resistance, -between Queen and King streets, near the Exhibition Building, and robbed of a pocket-book, containing five £10 notes and several memorandums of contracts for work. The men also took from him a letter addressed to James Urie.”
No further information is known subsequent to this regarding the offence or perpetrators.
Melbourne Exhibition Building in 1855
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Ferguson and Urie 