This is Australian True Crime with Michelle Laurie. 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 Madison,

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 Wurundri, Woi Warang people of the Koolan Nation. And a warning, this episode of the podcast

contains graphic descriptions of violence. With Brendan Abbott's story, one of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence.

With Brendan Abbott's story, one of the tricky things is we still don't know exactly which robberies he did commit and didn't commit.

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 doesn't want to serve any more time than

he's already doing.

No.

So there's a fair bit of mystery there.

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

...