Car vandalised while bushwalking in the Wolgan Valley

[FatCanyoner]

This occurred a couple months ago, but I thought it was worth sharing so others can avoid a similar experience.

Over the Anzac Day long weekend, I did a three day bushwalk up on the Wolgan-Capertee Divide with a friend. We had parked our car off to the side of the Wolgan Road, about 500m west of the Emirates resort (location marked here: https://maps.ozultimate.com/?id=1657594151706). We used a road reserve just to the north of this spot to gain access to Wollemi NP. When we got back to the car, it had been vandalised. I first saw the damage to the rear tail-light and thought someone had come off the road and sideswiped me. A closer look confirmed it was actually a deliberate attack. Looking closely, you can make out boot-prints where someone kicked in the lights and every panel down the side of the car. They'd deliberately caused thousands of dollars of malicious damage.

This is a highly visible location, so it was a pretty brazen attack. There's no way of knowing who did it, or why, but I have a couple theories. It may have been due to the "Give a Dam" sticker on the back. Perhaps some drunk bogan on the way back from Newnes. Or maybe -- and this is the one I think is most likely -- a local landowner who took offence at bushwalkers heading through what they consider their land (despite it being a public road reserve) decided to exact their revenge.

Regardless of the motive, it's definitely worth being a little careful where you park along the Wolgan Road. In our case, it's a crappy old run-about car, so all we needed to fix is the rear light, but it would be more than $6,000 if we wanted to repair every panel they damaged. Pretty extraordinary behaviour from a pretty awful human being.

Photos of the damage:

The clearest boot print. There's no question someone deliberately walked along the side, kicking each panel in as they went.

[north-north-west]

This has always been happening during environmental disputes, whether it's dams, mining, logging, whatever. That would be my first thought.

Some people are just jerks.

[johnw]

This makes my blood boil Tim. Cowardly moron/s regardless of their criminal motives. I hope you reported it to police.
I'm thinking it might be time to invest in good vehicle security cameras or maybe a hidden wildlife camera close by.

[sandym]

Terrible. Newnes does seem to attract a thuggish crowd particularly over long weekends so could be just a random bogan operating under the influence of a skinful.

[CBee]

This has always been happening during environmental disputes, whether it's dams, mining, logging, whatever. That would be my first thought.

Some people are just jerks.

Vandalism happens for virtually any reason not only environmental disputes. If you can call them "reasons". I had my car vandalised twice because I was parking in front of a house to go and pick up my daughter from school.

[FatCanyoner]

I'm thinking it might be time to invest in good vehicle security cameras or maybe a hidden wildlife camera close by.

Given my suspicion that it may be a local landowner, there was part of me that was thinking I might do exactly that. It would be great to catch the perpetrator in the act. You'd only need to catch one person, and have the subsequently prosecuted by police, and it would pretty much stamp out any similar behaviour.

[ribuck]

Many dashcams have a motion sensor that will start recording if the car is bumped while it is parked.

[Avatar]

I doubt long-term landowners would do that unless they are dodgy blow ins. Landowners know they have assets that can be seized by courts and they are fixed targets for fines and their local reputation which counts for more than anything. Bogans needlessly ruining someone else's day. Probably don't have any assets or money, so no point in taking to court for recovery, and with juvenile records and bearing a grudge against anyone. Get insured and flip the bird.

[ChrisJHC]

Sounds more like #$%^hole being #$%^holes rather than issue-motivated.

[puredingo]

Agree with Chris, people on the way home from pubs, drunk/drugged bored kids out cruising would be my guess. Politically motivated; for such a little sticker in such a remote place…kinda chancey.

Now to be totally sure just swipe one boot from each neighbouring property and look for the match and you’ll have Tracey Grimshore barging down half ajar doors in no time.

And for the record I know plenty of honest, respectful bogans who wouldn’t dream of condoning such behaviour…

[Nuts]

A dunny plunger and a heat gun would probably pop that door dent out.
(just to offer a bogan pov)

[Biggles]

If it was a Tesla, the car would have recorded everything going on, right from the time the mongrel approached the car.
I think leaving a car in an isolated spot, roadside is a bad idea — and I see it very frequently! Being the owner of a $100k-plus car, I don't leave it anywhere chancey like this, ever. And especially I do not put any suggestive stickers on the window that could invite trouble. It is fine to have an opinion, but it will often rub antsy people up the wrong way — and badly to the point of revenge, if they are provoked by alt-messages. I recall yesterday thousands of cars were vandalised in Tasmania, and all were plastered with NO DAMS and SAVE THE TARKINE, among others, parked at Arthur River and Temma. They wondered why they were targeted, but it aint rocket science.

Cars have been prolifically vandalised at a particular hotspot on the Franklin River in Tassie, and those specifically adorned with political/activist stickers are usually the ones that cop the brunt of malicious damage — not once, but several times. Takeaway is park your car where there are others, and in a populated place where traffic comes and goes — that alone is a deterrent to some extent; would it have been possible to have parked at the Emirates Resort?

Last edited by Biggles on Wed 13 Jul, 2022 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Biggles]

Many dashcams have a motion sensor that will start recording if the car is bumped while it is parked.

Yes, as mine does. But only if the dashcam has a front or rear, or both directions view (or a front and a rear cam installed).
A rear dashcam might have seen everything of this attack. The front — nothing.
There are some dashcams that actually begin a 360° rotation when there is an impact anywhere on the car. Something like this was featured in dashcams Australia FB page a few months back.