THE CITY'S history has been further eroded with more missing memorial plaques in what National Trust Hunter branch chair Mark Metrikas calls a "sacrilegious act".
Mr Metrikas said in the last two months, some 20 memorial plaques have gone missing, including from the base of a statue commemorating Australia and Newcastle's first female lord mayor Joy Cummings.
"It is a sacrilegious act, really," he said.
"I mean it's probably not in the mind of a person taking those things, but this is all part of our shared memory.
"It's part of our history. It disrespects our shared culture, our shared heritage, it's about our sense of place in Newcastle."
The Joy Cummings statue was sculpted by Margot Stephens and was officially unveiled in 2019.
In October, the Newcastle Herald reported more than a dozen bronze and cast iron plaques were missing and appeared to have been stolen from Newcastle foreshore.
Those plaques were located along a stretch of the waterfront on and around the concrete edge seating.
Now, it seems even more have disappeared across the city, including one commemorating the first freshwater spring used by convicts in 1802 next to the Frog Pond in Pacific Park.
Others have been nicked from the National Service and Combined Forces Association of Australia memorial in Civic Park.
The monument commemorates those who undertook National Service in the Australian Defence Forces from 1951 to 1972.
A City of Newcastle spokesman said the council was aware that historical plaques had been stolen from monuments along the harbour and in parks.
"We condemn this type of vandalism and encourage anyone with information to contact NSW Police," he said.
"City of Newcastle is working with affected agencies to investigate the replacement of the plaques."
One of the plaques removed from the vacant A shed, the future home of Hope at Honeysuckle, was a 1910 decorative cast iron plaque commemorating the opening of the wharf by the Minister of Works.
It follows an unrelated incident earlier this week where a man was arrested following a crash in Fairfield where police seized brass memorial plaques and other items from a vehicle.
The allegedly stolen items included brass plaques, war memorabilia and honour boards.
In March, eighty plaques were stolen from Garden of Little Angels at Altona Memorial Park in Melbourne in what police said at the time was a bid to sell them for scrap metal.
While this month, a 44-year-old man was sentenced in Tweed Heads Local Court for stealing more than 100 memorial plaques from a cemetery on the QLD-NSW border.
The Herald is not suggesting these events are connected.
Mr Metrikas said the spate of stolen memorial plaques raises a question about whether it could be the result of organised crime.
"It's not something you do with a pocket knife or something like that, these guys know what they're doing," he said.
"There are still a few that haven't been done yet, but they seem to be working away progressively through them and that's the disturbing thing, this has been taking place now for more than two months."
Anyone with information about the missing memorial plaques is urged to contact Newcastle police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
