A phone and router stolen from a 75-year-old man passing through the town on his 15,000km charity walk around Australia have been returned.

Within 12 hours of The Chronicle reporting the story of Michael Pauly his mobile phone and 4G internet 'dongle' were safely back in his hands.

Michael Pauly is half way into his trek to raise awareness of, and funds for, men’s mental health and arthritis research.

He is pushing a trolley equipped with warm clothing, a solar panel and all the bits and pieces a man needs to survive in all types of weather.

Mr Pauly stops at night, either at camping grounds or in caravan parks, to sleep.

On Tuesday night he stopped in Muswellbrook, plugged his phone and router into a power point at an amenities area to charge and, when he went to continue his journey the next morning, the two were gone.

The Chronicle interviewed him after he had replaced his phone and he spoke then of leaving Muswellbrook with fond memories, despite the robbery, because people had been so kind to him.

Enter the Facebook community and more than 14,000 hits later.

First there was outrage the taking of Mr Pauly’s phone had so incapacitated an elderly man, then there was abject disappointment the reputation of Muswellbrook had been so sullied, and then there was action.

The Facebook community started to problem-solve, offering ‘no questions asked’ if the phone was returned, offering financial assistance and offering logistical support to get the phone back to where it belonged.

At 7.30am on Thursday Michael Pauly had stopped on the New England Highway about 15km out of Muswellbrook to take his heart and blood pressure medication.

“About a kilometre up the road a car stopped, the man got out, walked up to me and said, ‘Have you lost something?’”

“I said, ‘yes’ and he handed me my old phone and router and I thanked him very much for its return.

“I didn’t ask any questions and he said he had to go because he had to get to work and that was it,” Mr Pauly said.

The 75-year-old corrosion engineer said he will continue his journey, heading next to Singleton and then on to Newcastle to attend the national men’s shed conference on October 17, leaving Muswellbrook with his faith in human nature completely restored.

“That young man went to a lot of trouble to get that phone back to me and I am grateful and now I have two phones," he said.