{"id":478648,"date":"2026-02-14T03:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T03:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478648\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T03:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T03:19:12","slug":"police-appeal-for-help-after-priceless-egyptian-artefacts-stolen-from-caboolture-museum-north-of-brisbane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478648\/","title":{"rendered":"Police appeal for help after ‘priceless’ Egyptian artefacts stolen from Caboolture museum north of Brisbane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland police are appealing for public help after “priceless” Egyptian artefacts were stolen from a museum north of Brisbane yesterday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police said a man broke into the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology in Caboolture at about 3am on Friday.<\/p>\n

They said the man smashed a window and took several Egyptian artefacts before leaving the scene.<\/p>\n

The stolen items include a rare painted wooden Egyptian cat figure from the 26th Dynasty, a 3300-year-old glass necklace and a mummy mask that had been verified by the British Museum.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

This figurine of a cat was among the items stolen from the museum. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

\"Stolen<\/p>\n

The thief stole pieces of ancient Egyptian jewellery from the displays. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology events and public programs manager Joel Stephens said the artefacts were a key part of the museum’s educational program.<\/p>\n

“For us it’s devastating and heartbreaking,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We have over 10,000 school students every year come through the museum, engage in both our archaeological digs and also come through the museum and learn about world history.<\/p>\n

“These pieces are part of our signature collection and [are] really significant to that education program.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The museum’s Joel Stephens says the loss is “devastating.” (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr Stephens said retrieving the artefacts was “all we care about”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“These items are priceless to us\u2026they’re probably not worth a lot to anyone else out there,” he said.<\/p>\n

Museum manager Nina Pye said they had discovered ushabtis \u2014\u00a0a type of Egyptian funerary figurine \u2014\u00a0 and a ring had also been damaged in the break-in and were “irreparable”.<\/p>\n

Ms Pye said the cost to the museum would be “upwards of $100,000”.<\/p>\n

She urged the thief to handle the items with care and return them to the museum.<\/p>\n

“If they’re damaging them they have no value regardless. Bring it back where it can benefit the community and education as a whole,” Ms Pye said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Museum manager Nina Pye urges the thief to return the items and look after them carefully. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

The Queensland Police Service is urging anyone with information relating to the incident, persons involved, or the whereabouts of the stolen property to come forward.<\/p>\n

The Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology has reopened with a limited display of its remaining Egyptian artefacts.<\/p>\n

“We’ve still got a million years of world history on display,” Mr Stephens said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The museum remains open with a limited display of its remaining Egyptian artefacts. (ABC News: Lottie Twyford)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland police are appealing for public help after “priceless” Egyptian artefacts were stolen from a museum north of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[243348,243349,64,63,186621,21815,44,1158,94,701,58040],"class_list":["post-478648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-abbey-place","tag-ancient-egyptian-artifacts","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-caboolture","tag-museum","tag-news","tag-police","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-theft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}