George Francis Thompson was a milk deliveryman in North Perth, from the 1950s onwards. He was given a 5-pound fine for hitting a car with his horse and cart in 1953, as well as convicted under the Milk Act in 1954, for adding water to his milk.
He was also quite rich!
When George died in May 1994, he left behind an estate valued at around $600K, which has grown to a whopping $915K. The thing is; nobody has claimed the inheritance. The City of Vincent are trying to track down anybody who can claim their proven relation to Mr. Thompson; and are looking high and low.
The Western Australian Government holds a large pool of $73 million in unclaimed money, and Mr. Thompson’s $915K is the largest individual account included. Over 500 000 more unclaimed sums are sitting there, just waiting to be claimed by the rightful owners, and this includes share dividends, betting and lottery accounts, and deceased estates. In fact, there is so much money that is not yet claimed that WA Public Trustee plans to hire an account manager to try and distribute some of the unclaimed coin (you can check if any is yours via the WA treasury website).
All this makes me wonder though; how much money does the government make from citizens in the form of interest earned on things like this and our tax refunds which they hold onto all year?
If there is $73 million sitting in this account; then even with a conservative interest rate, they are going to clear an additional $4 million just in interest, every year. So, does that money go back into the community in a meaningful way? Doubt it.
Moral of the story: Don’t trust the government; also, check and see if you’re related to George Francis Thompson of North Perth.

Love, Akika xoxoxoxooxoxox