A PIZZA oven has been stolen from the new Hamilton Hill Hub, just days out from its inaugural open day.
Hamilton Hill Community Group deputy chair Phoebe Corke said the 600kg oven and the trailer it was on were stolen sometime between late afternoon November 7 and 5.30am November 8, when a member of the public said they drove passed and saw the gate open.
“The pizza oven is kept at the back of the building on a chained trailer behind a chained gate,” she said.
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READ NOW“The thieves cut through all the chains and towed it out, they must have needed a strong vehicle.”
Ms Corke said they were pretty upset, saying it was “a huge blow to our efforts at community building”.
“We’ve only had the oven for about a year – we were lucky enough to get a substantial grant through the Stronger Communities Programme from Josh Wilson’s office and volunteers spent countless hours and effort to match the grant through in kind contributions and fundraising,” she said.
“The oven has helped to build a real sense of community and many businesses in Hamilton Hill have got involved by donating dough and ingredients.
“We have a number of events lined up over the summer where the oven was integral to what we are doing so we’re going to have to do some rethinking.
“The oven and trailer were not insured as we simply couldn’t afford the insurance.
“In our naivety we thought it was pretty safe where we had it – so we are also kicking ourselves for that.”
Anybody with information about the oven’s location are asked to call Murdoch police.
For more information on the open day read our story here.