By Pam Kiriakidis
The Tramway Heritage Centre at Bylands was vandalised and graffitied on August 7, damaging two trams and other buildings.
Centre volunteers reported the vandalism to police after arriving at the centre at about 12.30pm on the Sunday.
They provided police with CCTV footage that showed three people on site at 3am on August 7, leaving at about 4.30am, without leaving any evidence on site.
Police are now investigating.
Tramway Museum Society of Victoria secretary Graham Jordan said two major trams that sat outside the sheds were graffitied – a red Adelaide H class tram the heritage centre was restoring, and a 1976 vintage Melbourne Z class tram.
Mr Jordan expressed his frustration, and said most people did not realise that the heritage centre was a voluntary not-for-profit organisation.
“We are very disappointed and disheartened, because people don’t seem to understand, people seem to be under the misapprehension that the museum at Bylands is a government run facility, where the government is storing their old trams – that is not the case,” he said.
“Everything you see there – the museum had to do and work for themselves.
“We’ve got a couple of big projects planned for the next 12 months to enhance our site and to enhance our visitor facility, and we’ve now got to take away funding away from that.”
Mr Graham purchased the site in 1970, investing his time in restoring historical trams for the centre and the public to appreciate.
The centre opens to the public two Sundays a month.
He said as the Mitchell Shire area grew in population, there seemed to be more instances of theft and vandalism.
Last year in September, the centre was burgled with offenders stealing about 500 metres of copper wire from one of the tram lines.
Mr Graham said the heritage centre was for the community to appreciate the historic pieces, and was one of the few major attractions at the south end of the shire.