The theft from a motorhome in Wembley Park on Friday night has left an Auckland woman without precious images of her late mother.
Davida Brown, from Silverdale, north of Auckland, was in Wanganui for the Wanganui Kennel Society's annual championships when someone broke into her van parked in the reserve and stole her wallet and a Samsung tablet.
Ms Brown said her wallet contained her driver's licence, credit cards and "a substantial amount of cash".
"I'm not worried about losing the wallet, but it's the tablet - there are images on there of my daughter's graduation but more especially my late mother," she told the Chronicle.
She said while she had little expectation that the property would be found or returned, she was hoping whoever stole the tablet could download the images on to a memory stick and hand it in to Wanganui Police or the Wanganui Chronicle office.