A heartbroken woman has described her horror at discovering that thieves had ransacked the caravan she and her husband took on their bucket list trip before he died.
Rebecca Clark told the Herald Sun that the couple had driven to Broome with their caravan in tow to visit Gibb River Road, a location her husband Andrew had been desperate to see before his inoperable bowel tumour left him too weak to travel.
However, Mr Clark’s condition drastically deteriorated while they were in Broome and he was flown back to Melbourne on a repatriation flight, leaving Ms Clark to have their car and caravan transported home by a courier.
After two years enduring dozens of rounds of chemotherapy and oral medication, Mr Clark sadly passed away four days after arriving back in Melbourne.
However, the family’s pain was compounded when they found that two Akubras with huge sentimental value had been taken from inside the caravan while it was being transported home.
Ms Clark, told the Herald Sun that one of the hats had been bought by her husband more than a decade earlier, and the other had once belonged to her late father.
She said it was a shock when she and daughter, Maddison, 20, realised what had happened.
“Our hearts sunk knowing a piece of us had been taken right out from under us as we were grieving from the loss of my husband and father of my children,” she said. “We worked out pretty quickly that they were gone from inside the caravan because we have photos of inside the caravan just before Andrew and myself had to fly home from Broome and they were left on the bed.”
Maddison Clark was horrified that someone would stoop so low.
“What kind of people do that? To some people a hat might not seem like something so special but it was and all that adventures dad took it on and the memorabilia he collected along his life journey,” she told the Herald Sun. “It was the last adventure mum and dad got to spend together and to know someone has taken time to go through their caravan and go through their personal items and take what they like is horrible.”
With no updates from police yet, the family is pleading with the thief to return the hats.
Absolutely heartbreaking for the family. So sad this has happened.. so totally wrong. One would hope the thieves will have a change of heart but somehow I doubt it. Cruel
Broome is a problem place now. This is the 12th such incident I have heard of in the last 2 weeks, happening in Broome. Maybe nomads not going there for a while in peak season and normal season may get the law and council off there backsides to do something about it.
Didn’t notice where it said the stuff was pinched IN Broome
So sad. If it had happened in Halls Creek the caravan paint would have been taken too.
Don’t judge Halls Ck. by this one stupid comment. While there a couple of years ago we had a major mishap on the Tanami and hauled our remains to town for major rebuild. The support we received from a large number of helpful locals allowed us to continue with our very altered camper for a further three months all around greater W.A. We will continue to return there from NSW and spend money in the town as we remain greatful.
Agreed. Great story Chris and nice response to dumb, ignorant and stereotypical comments that tar a whole area with the same brush!