Prize pumpkin theft baffles rural Tassie community

A rural Tasmanian woman is attempting to solve the mystery of who snuck into her garden and stole her prize pumpkin in broad daylight.

A rural Tasmanian woman is attempting to solve the mystery of who snuck into her garden and stole her prize pumpkin in broad daylight.

Bishopsbourne woman Rain Barker has deduced her precious pumpkin must have been stolen between the hours of 7am and 4pm on April 8.

Her list of suspects is rather small, since the last census data indicates that the population of Bishopsbourne is only 136.

The pumpkin thief remains at large at time of writing.

“I don’t want to accuse people, but it could’ve been anyone,” Ms Barker said.

“It was a massive pumpkin. It couldn’t have been a quick theft.”

Ms Barker plastered missing posters around her house on Bishopsbourne Road asking passers-by: “Have you seen this pumpkin?”

No witnesses have come forward so far.

Ms Barker estimated the pumpkin was over 70 centimetres in circumference and was “just beautiful” in shape and colour.

She was growing the pumpkin for her family’s giant pumpkin growing competition, which she was on the cusp of winning before her hopes were squashed.

Ms Barker said her pumpkin was by far the “girthiest”, attracting envious gazes from all across the town before it was stolen.

She arrived home one afternoon to find it had disappeared from her pumpkin patch, just one week away from picking time.

“I should win by default, I reckon,” Ms Barker said.

“It was the biggest, the prettiest, it was just the most beautiful pumpkin.”

However Ms Barker said she still has a few pumpkins left in reserve, although none of them matched the sheer size and splendour of the one which was stolen.

She’s only recently got into the hobby and says she’s taught herself the art of rearing magnificent pumpkins.

Ms Barker said they were planning to make the giant pumpkin growing competition a family tradition, and that she would surely seize victory next time around.

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