Papers and war medals belonging to renowned WWII Australian surgeon Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop have been stolen from a home in Melbourne.

The haul was part of a wider theft of jewellery and electronics taken from the Williams Rd property in Toorak earlier this week.

Victoria Police believe the home was broken into sometime between 7.30pm on December 18 and 11pm on December 19.

“Once inside the property the thieves have removed a safe which contained numerous letters and documents belonging to and written by Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop,” police said in a statement on Thursday.

“The safe also contained medals and honours presented to Sir Dunlop along with jewellery and electronics valued at over $30,000.”

Detectives are hoping the items will be handed in and are appealing to anyone with information about the burglary or where the documents and medals are to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Colonel Dunlop, who was born in Wangaratta in 1907, was taken prisoner by the Japanese in Java in 1942.

The army surgeon worked tirelessly to help Australian POWs on the Thai-Burma Railway.

During the war, 22,376 Australians became prisoners of Japan, most at the fall of Singapore in 1942. Of those, 8031 (36 per cent) died in captivity due to starvation, overwork, brutality and mistreatment.

Colonel Dunlop died in 1993, aged 85, and a large bronze statue of him stands on the grounds of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.