$400,000 painting stolen in Melbourne

A $400,000 colonial-era painting of an Aboriginal gathering is believed to have been stolen from a home in Melbourne.

The oil painting, Passage of the Blacks, was discovered missing in late July with police working on the premise it had been stored at the Windsor house for the previous six months.

The privately-owned painting was awaiting maintenance work but was not kept at its owner's home.

The title of the unsigned piece is painted on its wooden mount board and the number 215263 may be visible on the back.

Global art house Christie's says the piece depicts Aboriginal people in the Blue Mountains and was painted by Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, a 19th century surveyor-general who arrived in Australia in the 1820s.

Christie's sold the painting in London in October 2015 for PS146,500 or almost AU$240,000 and was aware the piece had been sent to Australia.