Police fine man over train grafitti attacks

Tasmania Police have identified and fined a 22-year-old West Hobart man on charges related to a series of graffiti attacks on the Derwent Valley Railway, as well as properties in Margate and in Glenorchy.

The perpetrator caused an estimated thousands of dollars in damage to railway stock in New Norfolk, as well as at the Tasmanian Transport Museum complex in Glenorchy and on the original 1950s-era carriages and locomotive at the Margate Train shopping complex.

The three attacks all occurred at the beginning of January, 2025.

Tasmania Police’s Constable Rowan Oliver said: “We are committed to ensuring that such acts of vandalism do not go unchecked and continue to work diligently to identify and hold offenders accountable for damaging both public and private property.”

Police also stressed that an effective resolution to graffiti requires a whole of community response with information about the identity of the offenders. 

“The offenders who perpetrate these offences are known to people in our community and to remediate the issue, we need members of the public to step up and give us that information so that we can prosecute them.”

The 22-year-old has been fined for all three graffiti attacks.

The chair of the Derwent Valley Railway Michelle Dracoulis said it was gratifying he’d been caught, but the incident had impacted the many volunteers who work systematically to restore DVR’s rail stock in New Norfolk.

“We still have to clean up the mess,” she said.

The railway suffered a deliberately lit fire just before Christmas, which destroyed a shipping container that had been recently painted and fitted out as a break room as well as storage for a variety of items. 

The furniture and equipment it contained was lost, and the container itself was buckled beyond repair.