Darwin family appeal for support after caravan theft in Winnellie

After five years of hard work to realise their “dream” holiday, the Smith family’s $50,000 caravan has been stolen in the dead of night, with the young family turning to the Darwin community for help.

Spencer and Michelle Smith woke up to the dreaded news that their caravan had been stolen overnight. Picture: Supplied.

A Darwin family is calling for community assistance after their caravan was stolen during the dead of night, shattering their “dream” holiday.

On Monday morning, Spencer and Michelle Smith woke up to the dreaded news their $50,000 caravan had been stolen from a compound in Winnellie, dashing the family’s Christmas holiday plans.

With the compound gates smashed wide open, Mr Smith said the offenders had stolen the caravan with little regard for its condition.

“They’ve hooked it up and driven it out, there’s obviously already a fair bit of damage – they left the stabiliser legs down and the handbrake on,” he told the NT News.

“They’ve smashed it through the front gate, one of the front panels is completely ripped off its hinges and they’ve skull dragged it 300 metres down the road before they’ve obviously got out to raise the stabilisers and undo the handbrake.”

The $50,000 caravan was part of a “dream” holiday five years in the making. Picture: Supplied.

Working a high pressure, busy job and raising three school-aged daughters, Mr Smith said the loss of the caravan had deeply wounded his family.

“We’ve been talking about doing a trip around the country for a good five years now,” he said.

“It’s been a dream of ours for awhile – my wife’s inconsolable about it and I’m just trying to work out a solution.”

The caravan has multiple stickers that can be seen on its entry door. Picture: Supplied.

With clear CCTV footage of the theft yet to be obtained, Mr Smith asked the public to keep an eye out for the caravan.

“The number plate is TRZ, it’s got several round signs with a cartoon owl around it,” he said.

“On the entry door to the van it's got a heap of stickers, like Port Douglas Roadhouse.”

Anyone with information on the stolen caravan is urged to report its whereabouts to authorities. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Smith said the wider Northern Territory community had been quick to support the family.

“Everybody’s been quite obliging and happy to help,” he said.

“We’ve gone pretty far and wide with social media, Michelle’s put a flyer together and we’ve emailed a lot of the roadhouses west and south and the caravan parks to see if they can get some flyers up for us.”