Christmas came early for a gang of Australian thieves who stole 16 tonnes of ham and bacon from a Sydney warehouse and left a festive thank-you note scrawled on the wall, local media reported Monday.

"Thanks, Merry Christmas," was the message that greeted the owners of the Zammit Ham and Bacon Curers when they opened up and discovered meat worth some 100,000 dollars (88,000 US dollars) had been stolen.

The thieves had cut a hole through the wall to get into the warehouse but it was not yet known how they carried away such a huge haul, warehouse co-owner Anthony Zammit said.

"I am sure they'll try and sell it," he said, offering a reward of 5,000 dollars for information leading to the arrest of the thieves. He also said he would still be able to provide meat to people in time for Christmas.

"It is a blow but we'll recover from it. We're working 24 hours a day, seven days a week and put on extra staff. We won't let anyone down," he added.