The Butterfly Thief: adventure, empire, and Australia’s greatest museum heist

by Walter Marsh

The story of the most audacious serial heist in the history of Australia’s museums — and the British gentleman adventurer who pulled it off and got away with it — in a scientific true-crime caper stretching around the globe.

In January 1947, a chance discovery rocked the world of natural over 3,000 rare and precious specimens of butterflies had vanished from Australia’s most prestigious museums in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. Alarmingly, the missing insects included many priceless ‘holotypes’ — the first specimen of a given species to be identified, against which all others are compared.

On the other side of the world, New Scotland Yard descended on a country house in Surrey, where they found a trove of over 40,000 butterfly specimens. The culprit was Colin Wyatt, a Cambridge-educated ski champion, mountaineer, wartime camouflager, artist, and amateur naturalist whose high-flying exploits cut a path from the Alps of Europe to a London court room to a final expedition to the jungles of Guatemala.

Drawing on unpublished case files, dossiers, and private archives, The Butterfly Thief pieces together Wyatt’s enigmatic life story and his decades-long impact on the world of natural history. Along the way, award-winning journalist Walter Marsh reveals a deeper history of gentleman explorers, scoundrels, and grave-robbers that begs an uncomfortable but vital What if Western museums were crime scenes all along?

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, History, Crime

413 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2025

Reviews

[Valerie Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book looked so good from the online description and turned out to be so dull. It could have been condensed into a short story. The thief was identified early in the book and then the remainder was a slow meandering through many characters and scenarios of little consequence that I almost quit numerous times. Finishing the book was no reward for me. I am sad to say I am being generous to give this book 2 stars.

[Michael Burdon]

I wanted to read a book about a museum theft. I wanted to like it. I wanted to finish it. None of these things were possible for me.

The author seems to only be interested in trashing the reputations of Australian museums by repeatedly making his point of view clear that all museums stole everything anyway and how wrong it was. He would then go off on tangents about several historical figures and paint them with the same brush. There are many chapters that could have been left out completely, as they simply were not relevant to the subject matter. I learnt more about this story in a half hour podcast than I did while attempting to read this book.

I'm disappointed. I was hoping for more. It is the first book that I have not been able to finish in five years.

[Colin Ibbott · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story of a mid 20th century adventurer, butterfly chaser and maybe a cad. Provides an insight into the uncontrolled collection and storage of fauna and flora that ran in parallel with the colonial conquests around the world. The book included a number (>20) of editorial errors (either extra irrelevant words, or the wrong word given the context and grammar) - seems an increasing trend in books

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it hard to get into and finish this book. (My book club was in agreement.) The book would meander into tangents about historical figures and events, detracting from the main storyline and the man supposedly at the center of the plot: Colin Wyatt. There were tangents about psychics, camouflage, morgues, blah, blah, blah... and then my eyes started to glaze over. I will say, though, the book made a good point about the history of plundering that had long sustained English and Australian museums; the analogizing of Wyatt's theft of butterflies to colonization's theft of artifacts from Indigenous people was decently-made.

[Reuben · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book almost got me addicted to insects again. I started jumping up from the couch to chase little flying critters in the yard, flipping over random rocks while at work, looking up at streetlights while driving, ect. Luckily it’s a sorta average book.

[Heather Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apart from the early chapters it has become a racing read and quite fascinating with all the background facts and information in the development of collections: the history of collecting as both colonial travesty and serious scientific endeavour, as well as the crazies of collecting. It’s mostly focussed on the butterflies but through colonial conquests all sorts of stuff was purloined: statues, botanical and animal too. Interweaved is the story of Colin Wyatt. That becomes both an adventure and an analysis of a very interesting man.

Some thoughts:

In the quest to discover all that Wyatt had done in his criminal activities, I learned some minor transgressions by individuals had slowed and/or impeded capture and prosecution. Little pompous moments of different characters stalled or deflected from the true analysis of Wyatt‘s crimes. People are vain and defensive about their opinions and they want to hold them good and don’t like being challenged. That’s one of the things that’s come out of this read.

The arrogance of Empire paired with a thirst for knowledge and conquest, and the public’s curious avaricious nature for new exotics was another part of the collector history; it wasn’t all butterflies and 20th century.

Wyatt is a lovable rogue - how he embraces changing views, showing respect for indigenous peoples and scorn for government authorities; that he takes his daughter to her mother’s homeland. He is highly intelligent and adventurous with several languages to speak across the continents he traverses. He’s published and given talks, written articles for newspapers and magazines, even done radio broadcasts. What a character. I would have liked to meet him!

Apart from the fascinating vignettes that traced Wyatt’s story in a hap hazard route I am seriously annoyed with the author’s jumping about through different times: centuries or decades or maybe just a year, as if it’s the same seamless story but yet Marsh (author) might be talking about an event that happened 10 years earlier or I don’t know 15 years later, it’s ridiculous. Some sound editing would help so the connections to different times and backstories tied into the text: Context in other words.

[Alan Earhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reads like two different books to me.

The first two-thirds sets up a lot. There's wartime history, spies, histories of some national museums, cultural appropriation, and more. We learn about wartime camouflage and why it's useful. And we get a lot of personal history of the primary focus of the book- Colin Wyatt.

There were times while I was reading this part of the book that I kept wondering- "Why?" And not why did he (Wyatt) do it but why is there so much background? So much that it feels like too much.

The last third of the book is when everything ties together and it becomes very interesting. The author tries to find an answer to "Why?" as far as the thefts were concerned. We also get enough to really see why this was more than just a bunch of stolen butterflies.

This is a niche book and if you're reading this review then you are probably thinking "Hmm... I wonder if I should?" If you still feel that way then I recommend it. Not just for the last third but also for the parts of the book before it. There's a lot of history in the book.

I initially thought that the author was adding a lot of padding because they didn't feel they had enough to make it worthwhile to a publisher. Now that I've finished it I think that's too harsh of a viewpoint. I think the author worked to make us want to care about what happened and to do that they felt it necessary to help us understand what was happening in the world and in museums at the time.

An overall good read and a decent bookclub read (which is why I read it!). We've met two times previously and I think talking about the last part of the book will be far more interesting than before.

[Michael Doane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Butterfly Thief is a riveting work of narrative nonfiction that blends true crime, natural history, and imperial legacy into a story as unsettling as it is fascinating.

Walter Marsh reconstructs the astonishing 1947 discovery that thousands of rare butterfly specimens many of them scientifically irreplaceable had vanished from Australia’s leading museums. What unfolds is not merely a heist story, but a global investigation into obsession, entitlement, and the quiet systems that enabled cultural and scientific theft to flourish.

At the center of the narrative is Colin Wyatt, a charismatic and deeply troubling figure whose life reads like a work of fiction: Cambridge educated adventurer, wartime camouflager, artist, and obsessive collector. Marsh handles Wyatt with nuance, neither glamorizing nor flattening him, instead revealing how his exploits were enabled by a broader culture of “gentleman exploration” and imperial privilege.

What truly elevates this book is its critical lens. By asking whether Western museums themselves may be crime scenes, Marsh reframes the story beyond one man’s audacity to interrogate long-standing practices of extraction, ownership, and authority. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, The Butterfly Thief is both a gripping caper and a necessary reckoning. Readers interested in true crime, history, museums, and empire will find this an unforgettable read.

[Rosalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting story. The author has written a biography of Collin William Fforde Wyatt who managed to steal hundreds of butterflies from numerous museums including the Australian Museum in Sydney, the National Museum of Victoria and the Museum of South Australia. Wyatt was a British adventurer, champion skier, an artist and explorer and a lover of the outdoors especially when searching for elusive and rare butterflies to add to his personal collection.
The author has amassed an enormous amount of information and anecdotes about entomological research and the research scientists who collect, identify and curate their collections in particular the butterflies of the world. He also meticulously traced the theft of the butterflies and the scientists and museum employees who tracked the thefts to Wyatt.
Unfortunately the book suffers from having too much of this great research being included within the story so that it becomes overwhelming and disjointed. With finer editing this mediocre book could have been an excellent exposé and a brilliant read.

[Mark Havenhand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its an interesting story i never heard of - good explanation of holotypes and the importance of correct specimen labelling for scientific research - the museum basically consigning his returned specimens to the trash was quite an eye-opener. The book ranges widely from London, Guatemala, the Himalayas, Australia etc and Walter did a good research job to pull it all together. The last few pages on the ongoing misslabelling cases is also very interesting. So its a great story - but - Walter seems to describe every character in Australia at great great length - so many people pop-in, some reappear later, many dont. Possibly if you are an Australian lepidoperist these names would all be interesting, for me i nearly gave up. The second half of the book picks up and overall its a good read. There is a lot of politics mingled in about the morality of collecting and the treatment of First Nation people

[Jeannette · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all I have to give credit to the author for the amount of research this book must have taken. I did not like the fact that every single character, wether a main character or a minor one, we had to be told their life history. Much of that could have been eliminated. I learned alot about butterflies and their history and what collectors actually go through to collect specimens. Next, I consider Wyatt a completely unscrupulous character and totaly full of himself. The punishment for what he did was not in line with the crime and he basically got away with it. Although ostracized through out his life I had the feeling that he thought that he had done nothing wrong. This book was hard to read - interesting and engaging in parts and just slogging through in other parts but a nice tidy ending to most concerned.

[Giovanna Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

As other readers have stated, it's the editorial mistakes that annoyed me. For example, South American temple constructions are referred to as 'ziggurats', when I read that I thought, no that's not correct. Sure enough it's not.
The storytelling I found distracting, and didn't feel like I found out much about the thief himself, which I was hoping for. Even a simple timeline of where he grew up. Maybe there wasn't anything? But that isn't outlined either.
The installation of the author in the book I also found distracting, and didn't need to be dwelt on so long. I wanted to find out about the heist.
A no from me.

[Kristin Alford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written and thoroughly researched. Sometimes astounding and intricately woven account that also places the role of museums within specific cultural contexts. Thoroughly recommend.

[Jessica - How Jessica Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the Mona Lisa theft at the Louvre in 1911 to the Ocean’s Eleven franchise, heist stories have always fascinated audiences. Walter Marsh’s first book, The Butterfly Thief: Adventure, Fraud, Scotland Yard, and Australia’s Greatest Museum Heist will appeal to naturalists and true crime aficionados alike.

Full review coming for Shelf Awareness.