Just before Christmas, Aboriginal artist Bobbi Lockyer packed up a precious painting she had spent more than a hundred hours on and sent it to her client.
What arrived at the other end was an empty package.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Lockyer, a Ngarluma, Kariyarra, Nyulnyul and Yawuru woman says. The award-winning artist is also angry at what she described as a “cut and paste” response from Australia Post.
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She says a staff member instructed her on how to pack the $4,000 canvas, and that she sent it express post, with tracking.
Australia Post says the hunt for the painting is continuing and that they have apologised to Lockyer.
“I went into the Australia Post office to send it. They told me to put this sleeve on it, [that] it’s a new thing to stop the tubes rolling around in transit,” Lockyer says.
“I was a bit unsure about it. [They] said ‘it’s all good’ and show[ed] me the sticky tabs attaching it. So I paid and thought it was safe.
“It was a custom commission from a collector who wanted this painting for a long time, and it was for a Christmas gift. It was finished and sent before Christmas, it arrived on Christmas Eve as just a cardboard tube, no painting.
“As soon as it happened, the customer sent me a photo. I was like ‘oh my God, this is terrible’.”
“It’s heartbreaking. She had all her family around for Christmas to be given an empty, open cardboard sleeve.”
Lockyer says she and the customer made complaints. The customer’s case was closed, with Australia Post saying it was not packaged properly.
Lockyer kept fighting from her end, sending invoices to prove the painting’s value, and asking them if there was a lost and found. She was told Australia Post would track the route but said she got “cut and paste” responses.
“They said they could not offer compensation at this time, and that it was the sender’s fault. They keep closing the case, I keep opening it saying it’s not resolved,” she says.
“This is devastating for not only [my customer] but myself as well. I was told they would chase the route. There’s no evidence they did. I’ve asked if there’s a lost and found. No answer.”
An Australia Post spokesperson said in a statement that they “have apologised to the customer and continue to search for the item throughout our network”.
“Australia Post’s processing and delivery teams work hard to handle every item with care and deliver them safely, however in a network of this size, things do occasionally go wrong,” the statement said.
Under Australia Post’s policies, general services are suitable for sending items worth up to $100 – and most of their services cover up to $100 compensation for loss or damage – but it recommends buying extra cover for more expensive items.
