Mike Pratt GC, off-duty policeman who took on three bank robbers and was shot in the chest

Mike Pratt GC, who has died aged 70, was an Australian police constable who was awarded the George Cross after thwarting an armed bank robbery in Melbourne; he was only the second Australian policeman to receive the award, the highest honour for civilian bravery, and the last Australian to do so before Paul Keating withdrew the country from the Imperial honours system in 1992.

At about 9.45am on June 4 1976, Pratt, a 21-year-old unarmed, off-duty police officer who had been married for three months, was going for a haircut at his uncle George’s barber shop. Driving his white Mazda coupé past a branch of ANZ Bank in Clifton Hill, Melbourne, he spotted three men, armed and wearing balaclavas, rushing into the building. Immediately turning his car around, he switched on the hazard lights, sounded the horn and mounted the kerb to block the bank’s plate-glass door, calling out for passers-by to summon assistance.

Inside the branch one of the robbers ordered four staff and a customer to lie on the floor. Another jumped over the counter and scooped cash from the tills into a green plastic rubbish bag. The third remained in the public area but, when the manager ran towards the rear of the building, fired a shot into a cupboard. Meanwhile, one of the staff managed to set off a silent alarm and the security camera.

Pratt’s arrival took the raiders by surprise. As they emerged, one of them motioned with his gun for Pratt to move the car. “My initial thought was ‘stick it up your bum’,” he said. Removing the ignition key, he armed himself with a carjack handle from the boot. The men then attempted to leave the bank by climbing over the bonnet.

As the first one straddled the car, Pratt grabbed him firmly “in a bearhug and a bit of fisticuffs”. During their struggle the man was briefly knocked unconscious. By this time a second gunman had emerged, climbed over the car and aimed his weapon at Pratt. The first man quickly recovered consciousness and was getting to his feet. Pratt again grabbed the man, who called on his accomplice to shoot.

A shot was fired at close range. Pratt, who was trying to protect his back while holding on to his captive, was seriously wounded, the .38 round narrowly missing his heart as it passed through his left lung and spine before lodging in his right lung.

One witness described seeing him grappling with the raiders as they scrambled over the bonnet. “Both men were struggling with him at the start. Then one guy who was holding a gun walked seven or eight feet away,” he said. “Then I saw smoke come out of the gun. One of them held him as the other shot him. Both men then ran away.”

The robbers, who leapt into a getaway car that had been stolen earlier that day, fled with A$4,865 (about £18,000 in today’s money). The car was later found abandoned at a station. That evening police raided dozens of homes in Melbourne. Two cousins and a third man were apprehended within the week. They were subsequently jailed for between 27 and 35 years for their role in the robbery and for wounding with intent to kill.

Surgeons operated for more than two hours on Pratt. His injuries were at first described as serious and life-threatening, but after four days he was declared out of danger. “I wouldn’t stop him being a policeman,” his 19-year-old wife Dianne told the press. “I worry about him all the time. But that is something you must accept.”

Pratt later recalled the moment he was shot. “It’s hard to explain what it felt like,” he said from his hospital bed. “It didn’t hurt until I hit the ground, and then I started gasping for air… I don’t really remember anything after that.”

His colleagues described him as “a very quiet kid but as stubborn as hell sometimes”. Senior Sergeant Laurie Gaffny told the press: “Knowing Mike Pratt’s character, he could not have driven past that bank knowing what was happening. His conscience would not allow him.”

On July 4 1978 the London Gazette reported that Pratt was to be awarded the George Cross. The citation concluded: “Constable Pratt displayed outstanding bravery, devotion to duty and a complete disregard for his own safety when, unarmed and single handed, he faced and attempted to arrest these dangerous armed criminals.”

Michael Kenneth Pratt was born in the Macleod suburb of Melbourne on November 15 1954, the eldest of six children of Ken and Valda Pratt, who had met while working in a plastics factory. He was educated by the Christian Brothers and at Preston Technical School, where he captained the football team.

Leaving school at 18 he sat the entrance examinations for the State Bank, but had a change of heart and joined the Victoria Police. He served as a beat officer and then on traffic duties based out of Heidelberg police station. After recovering from his injuries he served briefly in the police press office, but retired in July 1979 on the grounds of ill health.

Some years later he had recovered sufficiently to work as a driver and alarm monitor for a security firm, which led to the threat of his disability pension being reduced by 70 per cent. “I could end up much worse off than if I had driven straight past that bank,” he told The Age newspaper. “Winning this medal has been a millstone.” The Victoria Police Association rallied to his cause and a few months later he reached an out-of-court settlement with the State Superannuation Board.

Pratt returned to the police in 1996 and 10 years later survived bowel cancer. He is survived by his wife Dianne, a secretary whom he married in 1976. They had a son and three daughters.

Mike Pratt GC, born November 15 1954, died October 10 2025

[Source: Daily Telegraph]