Granddaughter to wear replicas of Weary’s stolen medals on Anzac Day

Diana, the granddaughter of revered World War II veteran Weary Dunlop, will honour her grandfather in an extra special way this Anzac Day when she heads to the MCG.

EXCLUSIVE: Anzac Day will be extra special for Diana Dunlop after she was reunited with the stolen medals that had been awarded to her famous grandfather, Weary Dunlop.

Despite desperate public pleas for information, assistance from Victoria Police and the hiring of private investigators, the medals, which had been stolen from Diana’s Melbourne home more than two years ago, were never found.

Lt Colonel Sir Ernest Edward “Weary” Dunlop was a revered World War II figure, known for his leadership as a Japanese prisoner of war, and renowned for his prowess as a surgeon.

His medals were taken from Ms Dunlop’s Toorak home in a carefully orchestrated break-in on December 22, 2022, alongside dozens of love letters written between him and his wife, Helen.

Weary Dunlop's granddaughter, Diana Dunlop, wears the replica medals of her grandfather which were remade in Canberra, after the originals were stolen from her home in Toorak in 2022. Picture: Ian Currie

The theft occurred despite being securely held in a 250kg safe and secretly hidden behind a wall of Ms Dunlop’s property.

After much persistence and failure to recover the 15 medals, Ms Dunlop contacted the Department of Defence to see if they could help replicate them.

Ms Dunlop, 29, who now lives in London, returned to Australia last week to collect the replica medals from defence officials in Canberra.

She is planning to proudly wear the medals to the Anzac Day clash at the MCG in honour of her grandfather.

“I was just overcome by gratitude. I was very emotional and teary. I think I took about 30 seconds before I could speak to everyone who came to see the handover of the medals,” Ms Dunlop said.

“I didn’t think I would cry but I was really emotional, to have those medals to hold on to, and to have each medal to tell a story is just so important to carry grandfather’s legacy and his service in the war.”

On her way back to Australia, she also visited Thailand, where her fiance Lachlan Molesworth, 40, proposed.

Diana Dunlop with her fiance Lachlan Molesworth during their recent trip to the Burma-Thailand Railway where her grandfather, Sir Ernest Edward “Weary” Dunlop, was a prisoner of war. Picture: Supplied

The pair completed some of the gruelling journey along the Burma-Thailand Railway where Weary was a Japanese prisoner of war, and later became commander for the first Australians to work on the infamous site.

“Having just been to Thailand on death row, it’s all quite raw, it’s quite emotional,” Ms Dunlop said.

“It’s one of the few places where it’s 30 degrees and you get goosebumps.

“What these men went through as prisoners of war is just atrocious and not enough people know about the history.

Some of Sir Weary’s ashes are spread near the Burma-Thailand Railway and Ms Dunlop said three generations of her family have now visited the special site.

Remarkably, when Defence did a comprehensive review of Sir Weary’s honours they also discovered three additional medals had not been issued to him.

She said this made the whole ordeal “bittersweet”.

Three extra replica medals have been added alongside his original set of 15 at the Australian War Memorial.

The honours include the Australian Active Service Medal 1945-1975 with clasp ‘VIETNAM’, the Australian Service Medal 1945-1975 with clasp ‘SW PACIFIC’, and the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal.

Weary Dunlop's replica medals on original railway sleepers from the infamous Burma-Thailand Railway which now make up part of his memorial in Melbourne. Picture: Ian Currie

Ms Dunlop is the daughter of the late Dr Alexander Dunlop, the eldest of Weary’s two sons. She never had the opportunity to meet her grandfather who died in 1993, aged 85, before she was born.

The 250kg safe where the medals had been held was extracted from her home using an angle grinder, taken down a set of stairs and removed from the property while she was overseas.

Now working as a data scientist at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, where her grandfather also worked as a surgeon, Ms Dunlop said she had many sleepless nights since the brazen theft.

Police said at the time that they suspected it could be thieves tipped off by Ms Dunlop’s part-time cleaner, but she hasn’t given up hope that the original medals will one day be found.

“There’s a massive sense of relief. We are not giving up hope that we have in finding the originals,” she said.

Ms Dunlop said the medals will be held in a secure location in Australia.

Originally published as Granddaughter to wear replicas of Weary’s stolen medals on Anzac Day