The theft of a cherished church bell from a South Australian regional township has been condemned by the local mayor, who says his community has been deprived of an irreplaceable "time capsule" from its past.
The brass bell was stolen from outside St Peters Anglican Church at Mallala some time this month, and is among a growing list of objects of historical and sentimental value that are believed to have been targeted by metal thieves across the state.
Recent thefts of plaques from two sites in suburban Adelaide — the Burnside District Fallen Soldiers' Memorial at Rose Park and The Gums Reserve War Memorial Garden at Tranmere — prompted a strong rebuke from the state government this week.
"Anyone who steals a bust or plaque honouring our veterans to flog it off for scrap metal is scum,"
Police Minister Michael Brown said.
The thefts have led to calls from local councils for a crackdown on the black market for stolen metal.
Plaques were stolen from the Burnside District Fallen Soldiers' Memorial at Rose Park. (891 ABC Adelaide: Bobby Macumber)
Police are investigating the theft of the Mallala bell, which was on a stand outside the church's door and is believed to have been stolen between the afternoon of Friday, October 2 and the following Thursday evening.
Adelaide Plains Mayor Mark Wasley expressed support for stronger regulation of scrap metal sales and told 891 ABC Adelaide the bell was "pretty well irreplaceable".
"Things like this [bell] are part of the fabric of our communities and we've had memorials that have gone missing or actually been stolen over the period of time, but these memorials are like a living time capsule," he said.
"I'd really like to see some much tighter restrictions on accepting all sorts of metals that are coming obviously stolen.
"A plaque that you can see has been prised off a wall — the people who receive them, they must know."
Burnside's mayor described the loss of the plaques at the Rose Park memorial as "devastating" for the community. (891 ABC Adelaide: Bobby Macumber)
Mr Wasley said it was "very disappointing" to learn of the bell's disappearance, saying its weight meant more than one person may have been involved in its theft.
"It's just unbelievable that someone would think to go there and remove it," he said.
He urged whoever had taken it to just "leave it on the doorstep at the church — we would be more than happy with that".
Mr Wasley said that, when he was a teenage member of the St Peters congregation, he had the duty of ringing the bell, which is estimated to be more than a century old.
"Not only is it a significant part of the church's history but is also a treasured symbol of the local community's heritage," SA Police said in a statement.
"For generations, the bell has marked important occasions including church services, weddings, funerals and community gatherings, making its loss deeply felt by parishioners and residents alike."
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Burnside Mayor Anne Monceaux this week described the loss of the plaques at the Rose Park memorial as "devastating" for the community.
"This is not just our council issue, this is happening more and more where thieves are stealing this metal to melt it down for money and with absolutely no respect for those people who are damaged and hurt by the loss,"
she said.
"This is of course a month off of Remembrance Day where we do have a ceremony at this location to remember the fallen from World War I."
Councillor Lilian Henschke said while a small number of the items had been recovered, staff had since conducted a check on the number of missing plaques across the council area.
"Staff quickly found that there were 27 plaques missing through the whole City of Burnside, and nine of those — the most plaques stolen — were from this area, this avenue of honour, this very significant war memorial," she said.
"I'm calling for an audit of all of those scrap yards that don't have a licence."
Burnside Mayor Anne Monceaux at the Rose Park site. (891 ABC Adelaide: Bobby Macumber)
In August, the bust of South Australian suffragist Mary Lee was taken from its plinth along North Terrace in Adelaide's CBD.
The SA government has introduced laws for a crackdown on the sale of stolen metal, through the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2025.
The Act is not expected to come into effect until 2028 — but Attorney-General Kyam Maher told ABC Radio this week the government was looking to accelerate the introduction of the laws targeting "idiots who would steal plaques [and] things commemorating others' sacrifice and achievement".
"We've seen this in different forms recently, with busts cut down on North Terrace — so if it can be sped up we would certainly look to do that," he said.
Harry De Ruiter from Daws Road Recycling supported calls for an audit of unlicensed yards, and said his family's business worked closely with police in cases of suspected theft.
"Something like a plaque would absolutely ring alarm bells on our end," he said.
"They're a new type of thing that they're stealing — a lot of builders nowadays have cameras up on sites, and alarms and stuff like that, so I guess these people have turned to the high value of brass at the moment.
"We really want to support harsher penalties for these people because a lot of the people that we do see, and we have seen over the years, are repeated offenders at this type of behaviour."
Mr De Ruiter said care needed to be taken to ensure crackdowns did not discourage legitimate recycling.
"We support it on the high-value items like brass and catalytic converters and copper and the most stolen type of items," he said.
"But our fear is that if it expands out from that into other forms of scrap metal, it might deter people from bringing in their garden shed or their old fence."