A REAL estate agent was inspecting a vacant property at Telarah on Wednesday when they made a shock discovery.
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Left inside the house on Brooks Street was a motorbike and an unmarked box. The agent suspected the motorbike to be stolen and was about to contact police, when they looked inside the box and found what was initially thought to be unexploded ordnance.
Unexploded ordnance is any sort of military ammunition or explosive which has failed to function as intended. If disturbed, they may explode without warning.
Emergency services were called to the scene at Telarah and specialist teams from RAAF base Williamtown setup an exclusion zone.
Precautions were taken to ensure the safety of residents until the contents of the box could be properly examined. The suspected explosives ended up being empty shells and the box was safely removed from the premises.
Police also seized the motorbike for further examination.
This is not the first time old military items have been found in the Hunter. In 2018 a man and a young girl received shrapnel wounds when ordnance they found at the beach exploded in their Anna Bay home.
The incident prompted Hunter police to warn people not to touch "rusty old metal" on the beach.
In 2017 a Sydney family was lucky to have returned home from a weekend at Anna Bay in one piece after unknowingly playing a risky game of fetch with their dogs.
Dennis Spring and his daughters, Mischa, 17, and Shenandoah, 12, were exploring the Birubi sand dunes when their dogs Peppah and Brixton began playing fetch with what looked like an old car part.
It turned out, however, to be an unexploded WWII mortar. Read the full story here.
Follow these simple actions if you find a similar suspicious item:
- DO NOT TOUCH, disturb or tamper with the item in any way. This includes making any attempt to move the item to a 'safe' location.
- Carefully note the appearance of the item and the location. Take a photograph if it is possible to do so without further approaching or disturbing the item.
- If possible, mark the location so that it can be found later. Coloured tape or paint make easily recognised marker material. Note the route to the item.
- Inform the property owner, park ranger, prime contractor, site foreman or supervisor of the find.
- Inform the Police that a possible ammunition item has been found. They will instigate a request for Defence personnel to attend and dispose of the item.
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