A WERRIS Creek family is calling on the public to help find their missing loved one this Christmas – a giant Santa that was stolen from their property.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The devastated Moore family woke on Friday morning to find their six-foot-high home-made Santa that adorns their mailbox each December had been stolen from the entrance of their 3000-acre property between Werris Creek and Breeza.
The giant Santa, dressed in a blue shearing singlet, has been a part of the family for almost a decade.
“It’s a bit of a family tradition,” Erin Moore said on Sunday morning.
“I remember driving down the Newell Highway years ago and saw all the farms had Santas on their letterboxes, so we started doing it.
“We’ve been doing it for about eight years.”
The Santa, made by the family using a metal frame and a flat-bar spine, stuffed with Dorper wool from their property, is decorated in a different theme each year.
He was once decorated as though he was shearing sheep, and after a flood one year, was on a motorbike pulling a raft towing sheep.
This year, Santa was sitting atop an old washing machine, as though he was coming out of a present to symbolise the family’s “surprisingly good harvest”.
The Moore family, including the children aged 14, 12, 10 and five, had only had this year’s Santa out for about 24 hours before he was stolen between 12am and 6am Friday.
“They (the kids) were devastated,” Mrs Moore said.
“We live on a road that’s not really used.
“It’s mainly used by farmers and the odd railway worker, but it’s not a main thoroughfare.
“We’re devastated someone would take it.
“It’s just a bit close to home.”
It doesn't feel like Christmas without him.
- Erin Moore
The iconic Santa is so big that it would not fit in a regular-sized car.
“It’s all recycled stuff from our farm,” Mrs Moore said.
“He’s pretty famous, he’s been in the RM Williams Magazine and The Land.
“I just couldn’t believe he was stolen.”
The family want their Santa returned no questions asked.
“We wake up every morning, go out to the mailbox to see if he’s been returned,” Mrs Moore said.
“We just want him back.
“He’s just part of the family. It doesn’t feel like Christmas without him.”
The incident has been reported to police, while the family has turned to social media and plastering posters around Werris Creek to try and find him.
If anyone has any information, contact Werris Creek police on (02) 6768 7444.