Matt Lewis, the son of Ron and Pat Lewis, both in their 70s, contacted the Daily Liberal yesterday expressing concern for his parents who had stopped in Dubbo for a few nights. He said their mobile phones, credit cards, cash and other personal effects were stolen on Sunday night.

“I would appeal to the person or persons who committed this opportunistic theft to return the property to its rightful owners and be respectful of the debt you owe the elderly, as opposed to stealing from those who made this country so great,” Matt said.

Mr and Mrs Lewis said they had an address book stolen among the goods, with contacts from the past 20 years, and prescription medicine.

After the theft, the couple went to their bank, Westpac, yesterday and ordered new credit cards. They said the bank was very helpful and gave them money to last them until the mess was sorted out.

However Telstra did not show them the same understanding, Ms Lewis said. When they went to the company, the couple was told they could not get a new phone without any photo identification, even though all their licences had been stolen.

The 45 years Mr and Mrs Lewis had been with Telstra did not make a difference, they said. After arriving in Dubbo on Saturday afternoon, Mr and Mrs Lewis were supposed to be leaving early yesterday morning.

They already had to change their route to go to Broken Hill next because of the floods in Queensland, and now cannot leave Dubbo until Wednesday or Thursday when they receive their credit cards.

Back in 1968, at the age of 32, Mrs Lewis travelled with her three sons from Hobart to Darwin to meet Mr Lewis who had just joined the Northern Territory police force.

While Matt said his parents were “pretty resilient”, he said the events of Sunday night would have put a dampener on their trip.

Orana Local Area Command Inspector Richard Morley said police were continuing their investigation into the break and enter.

Mr and Mrs Lewis said they would still enjoy the rest of their trip and were looking forward to arriving in Darwin and seeing their granddaughter.