Thanks for the reference to the Australia Banking act of 1959. I had heard of it before, and actually went so far as to try to research, in contemporary newspapers, the public reaction to it. I didn't get very far, though, couldn't find old newspaper archives from that time period.

Any Aussies who could dig into this? Curious minds would like to know.

These topics show up in literature as well. For instance in the (amazing) novels of Nevil Shute, the topics of capital controls and hiding assets frequently come up. A couple that spring to mind right away are The Far Country and Trustee From the Toolroom. I highly recommend both of them, though Trustee from the Toolroom is quite a bit more popular.