Of the many cunning escape plans hatched by prisoners over the years, the 1994 “Trojan Horse” is perhaps one of the most ingenious. Using timber regularly transported in and out of Lithgow Prison’s carpentry workshop, two inmates concealed themselves in a hollow built into the centre of a stack. Once loaded on a truck, they passed undetected through the security gate of the maximum security facility.

A motorist alerted the driver after spotting the pair emerging from the pile but both offenders quickly disappeared into nearby bushland. They were apprehended in Sydney about a fortnight later. Their ruse was later dubbed the “Trojan Horse” after the ancient Greek myth of the same name.

It can been seen at the Corrective Services NSW Museum, Cooma.