Hughenden is seeking to reassure grey nomads and other visitors to the small Queensland town is safe following the incident earlier this week in which a family of five was forced to jump from their caravan during a car robbery.
A man, woman and three young children managed to escape the van when it began to move off from its spot in a caravan park on Monday evening.
The caravan and car have since been located and recovered by police.
Mayor Kate Peddle told the ABC that everything was being done to support the family.
“I can’t even imagine what that would be like getting dragged away in the middle of the night by a total stranger in your own vehicle,” she said. “It’s just horrendous.”
Police are continuing to hunt down the caravan thieves. PIC: Queensland Police
However, Cr Peddle said this sort of incident was highly unusual.
“We especially want to ensure that visitors to our town feel safe and can enjoy all the natural beauty and country hospitality we have to offer,” she told the ABC. “We take great pride in our community’s wellbeing, especially during this peak visitor season.”
Cr Peddle said she would like to see tougher measures put in place, such as putting offenders to work could stop more crime from seeping into country towns.
“Our sleepy little towns out here have never experienced anything like that and now we’re starting to see sporadic things,” she told the ABC. “I’d hate to think we would have to improve our [security] measures … I think the state government can look towards some better policies.”
A team of detectives is investigating the car and caravan theft and crimes specialist officers had been deployed to the town.
“The community can rest assured that police will hunt down those responsible and they will be held to account,” Police Minister, Mark Ryan, told the ABC. “Community safety is of paramount importance … every Queenslander, and indeed visitors to our state, has the right to not only be safe, but feel safe.”
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Safety in outback towns with a high unemployment figure will always be troublesome.
This ‘incident ‘ certainly has put a damper on visiting the area.
We stayed at the same caravan park in Hughenden last night. We only learned about the incident via Google , while sitting in the local pub. Unfortunately we were not advised about any safety concerns when we booked in at reception. We took extra precautions to be safe.
In hindsight knowing the car keys had been stolen that day I probably would have disconnected a car battery lead as well as hitching to the caravan
you are spot on that comment,
I think it was hitched to the car.
Astute travellers will check out a town’s security before deciding to stay. Word of mouth about break-ins is more trusted than a local council’s assurances.
reads like the way to go.
Our attitude is to stay clear of towns with high crime rates but the only way to learn that is from media reports. Other than that, we never leave the keys in the car or attached to a hook just inside the van door. We lock up as we do at home. Still, it didn’t help in Kalgoorlie when I was repairing someone else’s van and children from the van park ratted through our car, stealing cash and valuables while I was walking to and fro with tools. I had left the car unlocked while working 30 feet away.
That’s why I travel in a motorhome with a dog – no chance of anyone jumping into my driver’s seat.
best way to go these days
The article makes no mention of whether the car was left unlocked or keys left somewhere easily accessed. Not enough info provided to make a balanced assessment of this incident so can’t say if it would stop us from staying there. Having said that it would have been terrifying for the family.
It’s unfortunate that thieves seem to be more prevalent around places like caravan parks. This family had their car keys stolen a few days prior to this incident, so it was obvious that the thieves would come back for the car. Just securing the car to the caravan wasn’t good enough deterrent.
Puts me off.
No trust in the law holding the perpetrators to account.
Has forever tainted our trust in travelling outback free of society’s worst.
It was a one off incident at the moment in Hughenden , this sort of thing happens in the coastal cities but does that put people off from visiting the town or area, NO so why should it deter you from visiting places like Hughenden.
If the police ever do catch the lot that carried out the theft they will again be let out on bail ,maybe the police should jest check who is currently out on bail in that area ,will not hold my breath on justice been served once again
Just because a crook is on bail, doesn’t mean they’re not going to be punished in court. Police can only refuse bail for certain reasons. If those reasons aren’t there, the crim gets released. In fact more get released on bail than refused.
Sounds like they need to take better precautions next time.
We won’t go to the NT now, because of the crime in Alice Springs.
We stayed at the same caravan park a day or two after the reported incident. Apparently, the car keys were stolen earlier in the day, the car was hitched to the caravan, the stabilisers were deployed and electricity and water was connected – from what we were told. The theft in my opinion was the work of someone deranged.
It would appear that we in Victoria have a laughable broken legal system and the other states are nearly as incompetent time for a change of government and hopefully we travellers need not sleep with one eye and ear open