Five weeks ago Amanda and Mick Fennessy’s new sign to explain their proposed tourist accommodation project went missing overnight, two days after it had been erected.

Little did they know it had been nicked for a party prank.

“We couldn’t believe it when the signwriter said he’d found it,” Mrs Fennessy said this week.

“It appears a local lad pinched it and took it to a party.

“The sign, which reads “what’s happening here?” was then photographed beside a person’s naked bum and posted on Facebook.

“Then the signwriter tracked it down through his daughter’s Facebook connections.

“I think the lad was told his father would be informed if the sign was not returned.”

The couple plans to progressively put information on the board explaining their project for the prominent site at the corner of Lake View Road and the Princes Highway.

They have transported six old portable classrooms from across Victoria to renovate and turn into one-bedroom self-contained units in a village setting called Harmony at Tower Hill.

“We hope to have the first two ready for the Port Fairy Folk Festival,” Mrs Fennessy said.

“It’s attracted a lot of curiosity.

“We’ll be renovating all the classrooms.”

One of the units will be expanded to create a central hub with a laundry, toilets, fireplace, barbecue area and conference space.

The Fennessys, who moved to Tower Hill nine years ago, said they had researched the project and were confident it would fill a need in the accommodation market.