Underpants stolen off clothesline in Orange

Having put a load of washing on the line prior to going to bed on December 17, Stephen Wright woke the next morning to find his clothesline had been raided.

"I don't know whether somebody stole our underpants off the line because they needed them or not, but It was very selective," he said.

"They specifically went through and removed all of the underpants. There were even a couple of pairs of underpants in-between the socks and they've taken them and left the socks and jeans."

But Mr Wright wasn't the only resident near Esso Park that was targeted that night.

A neighbour's clothesline was also hit, except on that occasion, it was more than just underpants which were taken.

"Our neighbour next door lost everything off his clothesline that same night," Mr Wright added.

"His work clothes, which are expensive, his kid's and wife's clothes were all taken."

Between the two homes, Mr Wright estimates that around $700 worth of clothes were taken.

"There were a few pairs of mine there but most of them were my son's," Mr Wright said of the underpants which were taken.

"He had these comfortable undies and they're about $20 a pair. They probably took a couple pairs of mine, about half-a-dozen of my son's and four pairs of my wife's and also some bras. There's a few $100 worth that they've stolen just from us. It's a fair bit of money that they got that night."

Having lived in the same street for more than two decades, this was the first time Mr Wright could remember being targeted by a thief.

"We've never had anyone try to break into the shed or anything like that," he said.

"We'd never locked the back doors, although we do now with what happened. It was bizarre."

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Although there was some initial frustration with what happened, Mr Wright has since come to see the funny side of it.

"Who would steal someone's underpants," he said.

"If they needed undies that badly, then wear them, because I don't want 'em back."