Thai Huts – Rubyvale

During the 1970s, Australia produced more than 80% of the world’s sapphires

Thai buyers and the boom of the 70s

Thai Huts and the Thorogood Brothers

In the late 1960s, rising sapphire prices triggered large-scale mechanised mining across the Sapphire Gemfields. Tonnes of sapphires were suddenly being produced by a growing number of miners who found eager gemstone buyers from Thailand.

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Records show that the first Thai buyer, Mr Huie, visited the ’fields in 1967 with his family. By 1969, more Thai buyers had arrived. When Bruce and Patricia Gregory purchased the Anakie Hotel in 1970, Bruce hired a private plane and flew to Inverell in NSW to invite a new group of Thai buyers to Anakie. The Gregorys provided them with accommodation and Pat served them traditional Thai meals.

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Soon, buyers were arriving in hire cars, bearing satchels filled with cash and, in Rubyvale, Thai buyers’ huts began springing up daily, many of them still standing. These two small buildings facing the road here on Main Street are examples of such huts.

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Machinery mining was in full swing between Rubyvale and Sapphire. You can learn more about the machinery mining boom on the panel located at the Tropic of Capricorn. Local miners took full advantage of the upturn in demand and spirits across the Sapphire Gemfields were high.

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In a climate flushed with cash and sapphires, three young men, the Thorogood Brothers, cemented their name in local history when they robbed Thai buyer Mr Tom and his wife at gunpoint in Mrs Yen’s house around the corner. The shrewd Mr Tom purportedly pretended to be a visitor who didn’t know the combination of the safe, which kept the thieves waiting for the real Mr Tom’s return. 

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When, after two hours, he hadn’t arrived they stole $2,000 in cash, a shotgun and a LandCruiser. A full-scale police search was conducted by 45 officers from Brisbane, Rockhampton, Mackay, Longreach and Toowoomba and an RAAF helicopter was brought in to assist. 

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The brothers had lived on the ’fields for at least 15 years and had acquired a bushranger image. Rumour had it they were receiving help from other youths in the area. Locals began taking precautions previously unnecessary such as keeping a rifle nearby and not leaving keys in vehicles. Some formed vigilante groups, searching everything within range. Thai buyers began leaving the Sapphire Gemfields in droves. 

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During the search, police found a fortress on a mountainside which had been cleared to give a free line of fire for 400 metres in all directions. The camp was stocked with tinned food. Stolen goods valued at around $25,000 were also stashed in the hideaway. 

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Two of the brothers were eventually found hiding in an irrigation channel on a property outside Emerald. They did not resist arrest. A third brother, who had been living with his parents in Sapphire, was also charged.

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Eventually 108 charges were brought against the Thorogood Brothers when they appeared in the Emerald Magistrate’s Court in May 1980. These charges included theft, arson and attempted murder. The Thorogood Brothers later appealed their sentences and but were unsuccessful. In dismissing the appeal, the judge remarked the sentences were “not a day too long”.

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