As Bowral prepares to showcase its annual Tulip Festival this weekend, Wall Street’s excesses seem a million miles away.

But the Southern Highlands hamlet has attracted global attention for its efforts to claw back millions from the leftovers of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that collapsed four years ago.

Bowral’s Wingecarribee Council was one of several to win millions of dollars in a landmark class action against the bank to recoup funds after it was left holding a ticking time bomb of toxic investments when the global financial crisis hit.