A ONE-metre tall red concrete kangaroo garden statue disappeared from the front lawn of Little Flower Church, Kedron, on Australia Day.
The kangaroo vanished along with a turtle and a pig statue.
Kedron parish priest Franciscan Father Mario Debattista inherited the kangaroo from his mum’s garden in Wooloowin after she died in November 2020.
He decided to put the kangaroo in the church garden, which he said was a nice reminder of his mum and dad when he saw it.
Fr Debattista said his mum had a prized collection of garden statues.
So prized in fact, that this was not the first time one of her garden statues had a run-in with the law.
“These poor things have been stolen more than once,” Fr Debattista said.
Many years ago, Fr Debattista remembered the police came knocking about a man they caught pushing a shopping trolley full of garden statues.
They had tracked many of them to the family home.
Similar footage had surfaced regarding the current statues on the lam.
Fr Debattista said there had been footage sent to him by a local showing a man pushing a shopping trolley full of garden statues and pot plants in Stafford, but it was unclear if it was related to the church or not.
The church garden was created for the local children.
Toddlers and little ones often went up to the garden’s edge to try to spot the different animals, Fr Debattista said.
“It’s sad for the kids, the garden’s less interesting now than before,” he said.
At the centre of the garden was a statue of St Francis, patron saint of animals.
Fr Debattista said St Francis’ spirituality went beyond animals and was more about being in tune with God’s creation, and praising and loving God through those creatures.
“If anybody sees a red kangaroo in someone’s front yard, or if the thief wants to give them back, there will be no repercussions, I’ll forgive them and be happy that they brought them back,” he said.
“You can drop them back overnight incognito if you want.”
