A Newcastle musician is appealing for people to keep their eyes peeled for his tools of the trade after thousands of dollars worth of music gear was stolen when thieves made off with his ute at Merewether.
Tim Rossington earns a living playing gigs around town and working at Balloon Aloft in the valley.
He was picking up his Balloon Aloft boss at Merewether to carpool to work just after 3am on August 29 when he returned within "a matter of minutes" to find his vehicle - and all his equipment from a gig at the Happy Wombat the previous night - gone.
"I came back out and went: 'you've got to be kidding me'," Rossington told the Newcastle Herald.
The vehicle turned up a few days later at Hamilton South - full of beer bottles, fast-food wrappers and with damage to the tyres as if it had been taken for a joy-ride.
Rossington said whoever took the ute must have seen him arrive in the cul de sac and seized the opportunity.
But he said the thieves would not have known about the music equipment until they jimmied open the aluminium cover at the back of the ute.
To make matters worse - last month's theft was the second time the working musician has had his gear stolen.
While he is insured this time around, he said insurance did not cover the robbery in 2016 when people across the community donated money for him to replace the stolen items.
"I just feel like the lowest act is stealing someone's livelihood," he said.
"It's what I put my heart and soul into. Especially, what hurts the most is that four years ago insurance didn't cover me and I had to fund-raise the money with the help of the Newcastle community, so I felt like all this gear is owned by everyone. They've stolen away the generosity.
"I'm thankful nothing happened to me. I don't know if I'd have gone out there earlier I might have got bashed over the head of something."
Most of the equipment is replaceable, Rossington said, but the one thing he would love to have back in particular is his main guitar - a Godin Multiac Nylon Encore (pictured right). The serial number is #11565173 - he began to keep a record of serial numbers after the 2016 robbery.
Among the more than 30 pieces of musical equipment taken - Rossington has posted a full list, along with identifying features on his Facebook page - are a Maton Mini EMS acoustic guitar in a Maton-branded case, an Electrovoice EVOLVE 50 PA system, a Scheiter UNICO acoustic amplifier and several guitar pedals in a Mono PB3 gig bag.
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