Bobin community members were devastated to find thieves had broken in to the Bobin School of Arts Hall on Thursday, July 2.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"We just couldn't believe people would do that to us," Mark O'Brien, Bobin Hall committee member, said.
"It's just such a low act that somebody would do that."
The thieves stole the hall's fridge and the frozen food that people still without electricity had been storing in the fridge.
They also raided the beer fridge that is kept under lock and key.
"They stole all the Tooheys but they left all the James Squire Pale Ale, so I think that says something about the calibre of the people that stole it," Mark, who is maintaining his sense of humour, laughed.
They also stole cash and three boxes of wine glasses, "nicer ones we bring out for functions," Mark said.
"Which is kind of weird. I must have had about 30 bottles of wine there and they were all left! So they're not wine drinkers but they took the wine glasses. They must have been having a fancy drink pouring the Tooheys into wine glasses!"
"To be honest, it could have been a lot worse than it was. In the scheme of things it was a minor robbery.
"It was more of a shock that someone could do that to us, than what it was that was stolen.
"My concern is they might come back."
Mark said he suspects the thieves had been casing the hall earlier that week. Empty bottles being kept at the hall for recycling through the return and earn scheme had also been stolen previously.
"We really hope it wasn't somebody who is local, and none of us can think of anybody who it would be," he said.
"Even so, if somebody needed a fridge that badly, they could have come to us and we would have helped them. We found a washing machine for another family."
Now Bobin Hall, which is still being used a a community hub and recovery centre post bushfires, needs a new fridge to replace the stolen one.
The committee has also decided they need to install a security system, which Mark estimates will cost a couple of thousand.
"We've decided on a system that will record footage back to base," Mark said.