The bush telegraph out Yass way is being credited with locating the Order of Australia Medal owned by local grazier Barry Walker less than 48 hours after it was stolen from his property.
Mr Walker, a former Yass shire president, was presented just last month with his medal by Governor-General Quentin Bryce at Government House in Canberra for his service to the wool industry and the Yass community.
The bush telegraph out Yass way is being credited with locating the Order of Australia Medal owned by local grazier Barry Walker less than 48 hours after it was stolen from his property.
Mr Walker, a former Yass shire president, was presented just last month with his medal by Governor-General Quentin Bryce at Government House in Canberra for his service to the wool industry and the Yass community.
The OAM and other items including jewellery were stolen from Mr Walker's property outside Yass around lunchtime on Friday.
By 6pm on Saturday, the stolen goods were in the hands of ACT Policing, thanks in great part to some nifty work by Mr Walker's neighbour Cassandra Ledger.
Mrs Ledger was suspicious when three young men arrived at her property on Friday morning wanting to ''take photographs of sheep''. She instead turned the camera on them, taking photographs of the men, their car and the number plate, passing the details on to police.
ACT Policing allegedly found the OAM and other stolen goods including two motorcycles taken from a number of burglaries at Yass and the ACT when they executed a search warrant at a Waramanga residence at the weekend. Three alleged offenders, two aged 19 and one aged 17, were expected to be charged with a number of property-related offences.
A relieved Mr Walker told The Canberra Times yesterday he wanted to thank the NSW and ACT police and his alert neighbour Mrs Ledger: ''I can only commend the police so very, very highly for using a tip-off a local person had given them Neighbourhood Watch works''.
Mr Walker, who was in New Zealand yesterday for meetings, said he had been devastated by the theft of the OAM after receiving it less than a month earlier on September 8.
‘‘It was a very proud and humbling day that my nation should recognise those things I did, not to get recognition, but as part of my commitment to my community and the wool industry.
‘‘It also reminded me I have a very lovely team around me who were part of those successes as well,’’ he said.
Mr Walker, the co-founder of the Australian Wool Network, said he discovered the robbery on Friday afternoon.
‘‘I arrived home from Canberra and the door was open and my wife turned up about half an hour later after caring for a very ill family friend in Tamworth. I said, ‘Here’s the good news darling’. She didn’t appreciate the sarcasm,’’ he said.
Also stolen was a piece of jewellery Mr Walker had given his wife Kristiane for their 40th wedding anniversary. Mrs Ledger’s husband Andrew yesterday explained his wife’s detective skills, saying she thought it was weird when the men said they wanted to photograph sheep.
‘‘So she watched them and got the camera out and took photographs of them and then they saw that and took off at great speed,’’ Mr Ledger said.
He said it proved that country people shouldn’t be messed with.
‘‘They don’t realise we’ve got a really good bush telegraph. Everyone knew where they were going. Cassandra rang up everyone. These people from the city have got no clue. It was a classic,’’ he said.
ACT Policing said yesterday that general duties officers from Woden Police Station identified a ‘‘vehicle of interest’’ at Westfield Woden just before 6pm on Saturday after earlier receiving information from NSW Police. Police searched the vehicle, which was being used by three people of interest, locating a number of stolen items.
A search warrant was then executed on the alleged offenders’ residence, with help from the Territory Investigations Group, leading to the location of the stolen goods, which also included electrical items and alcohol.
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