Shortcut: The True Story of the Postcard Bandit
4/24/202618 min
This is a "Shortcut" episode. It’s a shortened version of this week’s more detailed full episode, which is also available on our feed.
Brenden Abbott is one of Australia’s most infamous bank robbers, a figure whose crimes, repeated prison escapes, and years spent evading capture throughout the 1990s turned him into something of an outlaw legend.
To unpack the story behind both the legend and the reality, we’re joined by Abe Maddison (AKA Derek Pedley), author of The Postcard Bandit, an authorised biography of Brenden Abbott.
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CREDITS:
Host: Meshel Laurie
Guest: Abe Maddison (AKA Derek Pedley)
Executive Producer/Editor: Matthew Tankard
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMeshel Laurie· Host0:00
This is Australian True Crime with Michelle Lawrie. Brendan James Abbott is one of Australia's most notorious bank robbers, a figure whose crimes, repeated prison escapes, and years spent evading capture throughout the 1990s turned him into something of an outlaw legend. It was during this time on the run that the media released photos cementing his nickname, the Postcard Bandit as his image spread widely and his story took on a mythological quality that blurred the line between criminal and folk anti-hero. To unpack the story behind both the legend and the reality, we're joined by Abe Matteson, author of The Postcard Bandit. This is Australian True Crime. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is created, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. And a warning, this episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence.
Abe Maddison· Guest0:53
With Brendan Abbott's story, one of the tricky things is we, we still don't know exactly which robberies he did commit and didn't commit. There is- there's a handful that he's been convicted of. There are dozens that he's suspected of. How many of those did he actually commit? Well, he's never going to tell us because he, he doesn't want to serve any more time than he's already doing.
Meshel Laurie· Host1:14
No.
Abe Maddison· Guest1:14
So there's, there's, there's a fair bit of mystery there.
Meshel Laurie· Host1:17
The first time he escaped from custody is a very hilarious story about how Australia used to operate 40 years ago or 50 years ago, whenever it was, where basically the coppers took him to a police station