5 days ago
Triple j listener reveals how garden gnome signed by One Night Stand festival artists disappeared in Gnomesville
A garden gnome that disappeared from a popular tourist attraction in Western Australia's south-west has been found, but not without a classic true-crime twist to the mystery.
Gnobby the gnome took pride of place at Gnomesville, in the Ferguson Valley, 176 kilometres south of Perth, last Sunday week, a day after triple j's One Night Stand music festival in Busselton.
But a triple j listener reported him missing less than 24 hours later.
The 30-centimetre nude figure was signed by acts featured at the festival, including Blusher, Fool Nelson and Spacey Jane.
Gnobby's disappearance created national interest, with many people gathering in Gnomesville to joining the gnomehunt.
A nearby winery even offered a free lunch to Gnobby's rescuer.
Ferguson Valley marketing manager Ebony Harding said many of the hundreds of visitors Gnomesville gets almost daily were keen to help.
"The community really got behind the story and wanted to help find Gnobby," Ms Harding said.
'You could see people milling around specific sections looking for him.
"There's no CCTV here, so no-one is keeping an eye on the gnomes, so they do go missing."
When triple j reported Gnobby had vanished, feared gnomenapped and possibly meeting his end in concrete boots, Perth woman Michelle Kennedy contacted the station to reveal the guilty party: Herself.
Admitting she had moved him, the full story came tumbling out.
After attending One Night Stand, Ms Kennedy said she drove to Gnomesville to drop off her gnome "Budsta Move", but with a thought she couldn't shake.
"I was on a mission to find Gnobby. I arrived at Gnomesville at 2.20pm and I found him at 3.50pm," Ms Kenney said.
"And he was exposed under the tree and he had new tattoos on him and I thought, it's going to get really wet soon, he's going to get really cold, his tattoos will wash off.
"So I decided that I'd walk him down to the shed."
Ms Kennedy moved Gnobby about 100 metres to a gnome-sized shed.
"It was like a triple j trophy and it was an honour to take Gnobby there [to the shed]," Ms Kennedy said.
"I did feel a sense of, oh no, maybe I shouldn't have moved him.
"And then I heard on the radio that someone had stolen Gnobby and I was mortified, so I messaged triple j and said, 'I know where he is.'"
She said it was all in "good fun" and she had no idea moving Gnobby would cause such a stir.
