Looters Target Dolphin Sands Weeks After Bushfire Destroyed 19 Homes

Residents of Dolphin Sands on Tasmania’s east coast say looters have begun targeting the community, just weeks after a devastating bushfire destroyed 19 homes and left many properties vulnerable.

Local resident Paul Walker said his home was hit while he was away picking up his wife from Hobart Airport two days earlier.

“I’d had a call from a neighbour who said things had been removed from his property,” Walker told reporters.

When he returned home on Tuesday, he discovered items missing from his own property as well. Thieves had taken the front panel of a log burner he had salvaged from the rubble of a destroyed outbuilding a cast‑iron piece imported from France and difficult to replace. They also stole two jerry cans of diesel supplied by his insurance company to power a generator, as his home remains without electricity following the fire.

While Walker’s house survived the blaze, all outbuildings on his property were destroyed, leaving valuable items exposed and easy targets for opportunistic thieves.