Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
As you may have heard yesterday in the local news
with Crystal, the Dawn Military Museum was left devastated after
the theft of two old firearms on the weekend. Two
men stole the guns, which are not operational, from a
glass display cabinet on Saturday. With a member of the
public alerting staff. Now joining me is the museum's director,
(00:21):
Doctor Norman Cramp. Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good morning, Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Thank you so much for your time this morning. Dr Cramp.
Can you describe to us what happened on the weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, they're on the Saturday. Two mail mails arrived at
the museum. They paid the admission fee and went into
the museum. There was quite a number of people in
(00:57):
the museum and on the grounds at that time. Late
we think well between two o'clock and probably three point
thirty quarter to four. They made their way to one
of the display buildings, the original wartime command post. We're
(01:19):
pretty confident now that they set it up so that
there was nobody in that building for a short period
of time except themselves. It appears that they put a
sign on the door saying that it was closed, and
(01:41):
they very quickly one of them went about forcibly removing
a locked glass panel out of one of the display cases,
put one of the weapons in the bag in a bag,
they left for a short period of time, and it appears,
(02:04):
according to the CCTV footage that at least one of
them came back and then it took the other weapon,
probably to put it in a separate bag or something
like that, and then they left the museum and as
they say in the classics, made good their escape.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Wow, Norman, it sounds like they put a great deal
of thought into stealing these firearms.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I think, you know, looking at what happened here, was
definitely premeditated. It wasn't a crime of opportunity. They had
it well planned out. It's probably highly likely that they
had visited the museum previously, knew the layer of the land.
(02:54):
And I would say, Kadie that given that there were
other firearms in that display case and the two that
they took, I would say that they were the two
weapons that they were targeting. As to why they've perpetrated
(03:15):
this crime, I mean, that's up to speculation. There could
be one hundred reasons why they've done it. Certainly it's
for the staff here, it's concerning It's frustrating, it's annoying,
(03:38):
but you know it's not soul destroying. The anti police
or under this they have done an absolutely fantastic job
since we alerted them to the crime. They're working on
it and we're working with them, and you know, we
just move on and say that we can't allow these
people and the things that they do to stop the
(04:04):
things that we're doing.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Your spot on.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
We're trying to do all the right things here in
the community and these two people are trying to do
all the wrong things.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Norman, You've hit the nail on the head there, and
I feel like, you know, that's the way that a
lot of Territorians feel at the moment. We love this place.
That is why we live here. You know, you do
something like run the Darwin Military Museum so that people
can come along and experience our rich, rich history, and
(04:35):
you can't let, you know, a couple of thugs who
decide that they're going to come in and steal these firearms.
You simply cannot let them ruin all that is great
about the Darwin Military Museum.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Absolutely. I mean, in the fifty four year history of
this museum, nothing like this has ever happened before this
museum was established on the back of the volunteers, and
it still largely depends on volunteers. And it's whilst it's
really annoying and to a degree heartbreaking, what's happened. We
(05:13):
everybody rallied and everything was back in place and in
order first thing on Monday morning, and the museum is
back in full operation. And I'm I we are very
confident that the Northern Territory Police will nail these people,
and we think they'll probably do it recently quickly. I agree.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I reckon you spot on the you know, the police
do a phenomenal job. Norman. Can you tell me how
important were these guns to the to the museum?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Are they?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
You know? Are they just describe them for us?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well? In terms of monetary value or their historic value,
there as probably moderate value. One is a is a
copy of a more famous or more iconic weapon. I
(06:13):
suppose in the collector's market these weapons are readily available.
They're not They're not worth a lot of money. We're
not talking about very extremely rare firearms or expensive firearms.
And because they're they're being deactivated or made innocuous, the
(06:37):
monetary value of them decreases significantly, so it makes you wonder,
you know, why these people would do this so brazenly,
so boldly in broad daylight. The weapons sort of little
(06:58):
monetary value, but as I say, we're not sure what
the motivation was. I think they'll be if they had
other sinister plans or motivations. I think they're going to
be disappointed when they realized that the weapons welded up
and use them for a doorstop or with the ovie
(07:20):
mantelpiece or something.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I've got to say, good job, you know. I hope
that they're utterly useless to them for whatever they thought
that they were going to steal them for, or if
they were thinking that they were you know, that they
were worth you know, a phenomenal amount of money. I
think I hope that what they end up getting is
what they deserve, and that is the police knocking on
their door.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, absolutely, and it's we do that. This is just
our view, not necessarily the view of the anti police.
We do think that they these two weapons were what
they were after, because there are others in that display
case that you know, they're they're disarmed, deactivated as well.
(08:07):
But from a historic point of view, they're probably more
iconic than the ones that were taken. So yeah, it's
all it's all a bit baffling, to tell you the truth.
Minds like ours don't work like minds like this.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Very true, very true, Norman. Before I let you go
this morning, have you had Have you had any update
from the Northern Territory Police at this point, No.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
But I'm expecting a phone call from the police probably
within the hour. We're updating each other. The board of
management for the museum met yesterday afternoon and we've decided
(08:59):
on some menhents to the security system over there, and
so I'll be speaking to the NT police about that.
And we also have some more evidence the more BCTV
footage has come to light that we have passed on
to the police. We'll all work together and see if
(09:23):
we can bring these people to account.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Well, please keep us up to date, let us know
how it all progresses, and hopefully you know you're able
to they're able to catch them sooner rather than later.
Doctor Norman Cramp, I really appreciate your time this morning.
Thanks so much for having a chat with me today.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
My pleasure.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Thank you, thanks so much.
As you may have heard yesterday in the local news
with Crystal, the Dawn Military Museum was left devastated after
the theft of two old firearms on the weekend. Two
men stole the guns, which are not operational, from a
glass display cabinet on Saturday. With a member of the
public alerting staff. Now joining me is the museum's director,
(00:21):
Doctor Norman Cramp. Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good morning, Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Thank you so much for your time this morning. Dr Cramp.
Can you describe to us what happened on the weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, they're on the Saturday. Two mail mails arrived at
the museum. They paid the admission fee and went into
the museum. There was quite a number of people in
(00:57):
the museum and on the grounds at that time. Late
we think well between two o'clock and probably three point
thirty quarter to four. They made their way to one
of the display buildings, the original wartime command post. We're
(01:19):
pretty confident now that they set it up so that
there was nobody in that building for a short period
of time except themselves. It appears that they put a
sign on the door saying that it was closed, and
(01:41):
they very quickly one of them went about forcibly removing
a locked glass panel out of one of the display cases,
put one of the weapons in the bag in a bag,
they left for a short period of time, and it appears,
(02:04):
according to the CCTV footage that at least one of
them came back and then it took the other weapon,
probably to put it in a separate bag or something
like that, and then they left the museum and as
they say in the classics, made good their escape.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Wow, Norman, it sounds like they put a great deal
of thought into stealing these firearms.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I think, you know, looking at what happened here, was
definitely premeditated. It wasn't a crime of opportunity. They had
it well planned out. It's probably highly likely that they
had visited the museum previously, knew the layer of the land.
(02:54):
And I would say, Kadie that given that there were
other firearms in that display case and the two that
they took, I would say that they were the two
weapons that they were targeting. As to why they've perpetrated
(03:15):
this crime, I mean, that's up to speculation. There could
be one hundred reasons why they've done it. Certainly it's
for the staff here, it's concerning It's frustrating, it's annoying,
(03:38):
but you know it's not soul destroying. The anti police
or under this they have done an absolutely fantastic job
since we alerted them to the crime. They're working on
it and we're working with them, and you know, we
just move on and say that we can't allow these
people and the things that they do to stop the
(04:04):
things that we're doing.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Your spot on.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
We're trying to do all the right things here in
the community and these two people are trying to do
all the wrong things.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Norman, You've hit the nail on the head there, and
I feel like, you know, that's the way that a
lot of Territorians feel at the moment. We love this place.
That is why we live here. You know, you do
something like run the Darwin Military Museum so that people
can come along and experience our rich, rich history, and
(04:35):
you can't let, you know, a couple of thugs who
decide that they're going to come in and steal these firearms.
You simply cannot let them ruin all that is great
about the Darwin Military Museum.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Absolutely. I mean, in the fifty four year history of
this museum, nothing like this has ever happened before this
museum was established on the back of the volunteers, and
it still largely depends on volunteers. And it's whilst it's
really annoying and to a degree heartbreaking, what's happened. We
(05:13):
everybody rallied and everything was back in place and in
order first thing on Monday morning, and the museum is
back in full operation. And I'm I we are very
confident that the Northern Territory Police will nail these people,
and we think they'll probably do it recently quickly. I agree.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I reckon you spot on the you know, the police
do a phenomenal job. Norman. Can you tell me how
important were these guns to the to the museum?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Are they?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
You know? Are they just describe them for us?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well? In terms of monetary value or their historic value,
there as probably moderate value. One is a is a
copy of a more famous or more iconic weapon. I
(06:13):
suppose in the collector's market these weapons are readily available.
They're not They're not worth a lot of money. We're
not talking about very extremely rare firearms or expensive firearms.
And because they're they're being deactivated or made innocuous, the
(06:37):
monetary value of them decreases significantly, so it makes you wonder,
you know, why these people would do this so brazenly,
so boldly in broad daylight. The weapons sort of little
(06:58):
monetary value, but as I say, we're not sure what
the motivation was. I think they'll be if they had
other sinister plans or motivations. I think they're going to
be disappointed when they realized that the weapons welded up
and use them for a doorstop or with the ovie
(07:20):
mantelpiece or something.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I've got to say, good job, you know. I hope
that they're utterly useless to them for whatever they thought
that they were going to steal them for, or if
they were thinking that they were you know, that they
were worth you know, a phenomenal amount of money. I
think I hope that what they end up getting is
what they deserve, and that is the police knocking on
their door.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, absolutely, and it's we do that. This is just
our view, not necessarily the view of the anti police.
We do think that they these two weapons were what
they were after, because there are others in that display
case that you know, they're they're disarmed, deactivated as well.
(08:07):
But from a historic point of view, they're probably more
iconic than the ones that were taken. So yeah, it's
all it's all a bit baffling, to tell you the truth.
Minds like ours don't work like minds like this.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Very true, very true, Norman. Before I let you go
this morning, have you had Have you had any update
from the Northern Territory Police at this point, No.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
But I'm expecting a phone call from the police probably
within the hour. We're updating each other. The board of
management for the museum met yesterday afternoon and we've decided
(08:59):
on some menhents to the security system over there, and
so I'll be speaking to the NT police about that.
And we also have some more evidence the more BCTV
footage has come to light that we have passed on
to the police. We'll all work together and see if
(09:23):
we can bring these people to account.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Well, please keep us up to date, let us know
how it all progresses, and hopefully you know you're able
to they're able to catch them sooner rather than later.
Doctor Norman Cramp, I really appreciate your time this morning.
Thanks so much for having a chat with me today.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
My pleasure.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Thank you, thanks so much.
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