Current:Home > Stocks2 monuments symbolizing Australia’s colonial past damaged by protesters ahead of polarizing holiday-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
2 monuments symbolizing Australia’s colonial past damaged by protesters ahead of polarizing holiday
View Date:2024-12-23 14:35:58
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Two monuments symbolizing Australia’s colonial past were damaged by protesters on Thursday ahead of an increasingly polarizing national holiday that marks the anniversary of British settlement.
A statue in Melbourne of British naval officer James Cook, who in 1770 charted Sydney’s coast, was sawn off at the ankles, while a Queen Victoria monument in the city’s Queen Victoria Gardens was doused in red paint.
Images posted on social media showed the body of the Cook statue lying on the ground with the words “The colony will fall” spray-painted on the stone plinth where the statue formerly stood.
Protesters doused the same statue with red paint in January 2022.
Australia Day, held each year on Jan. 26, commemorates the anniversary of British settlement in 1788. But argument rages in the country over how history should remember a fleet of 11 British ships carrying a human cargo of convicts arriving in present-day Sydney on Jan. 26, 1788.
For many Indigenous activists, Australia Day is known as “Invasion Day” as it marked the beginning of a sustained period of discrimination and dispossession of Indigenous peoples without the negotiation of a treaty. The lack of such a treaty puts Australia out of step with comparable countries including the United States, Canada and New Zealand.
“We understand and acknowledge the complex and diverse views surrounding Australia Day,” Port Phillip Council Mayor Heather Cunsolo said Thursday.
“We can’t condone, however, the vandalism of a public asset where costs will be ultimately borne by ratepayers,” she added.
The Cook statue has since been taken away and workers removed the feet from the plinth.
Victorian state premier Jacinta Allan said the government would support the local authorities to repair and reinstate the statue.
Police said they were investigating both incidents.
A referendum proposal to create an advocacy committee to offer advice to Parliament on policies that affect Indigenous people — the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority — was resoundingly rejected by Australia’s voters in October last year.
veryGood! (81)
Related
- About Charles Hanover
- Wheel of Fortune Contestant's Painful Mistake Costs Her $1 Million in Prize Money
- Tallulah Willis Details Painful Days Amid Dad Bruce Willis' Health Battle
- New Jersey voters are set to pick a successor to late congressman in special election
- Wildfires burn from coast-to-coast; red flag warnings issued for Northeast
- Partial lunar eclipse occurs during Harvest supermoon: See the stunning photos
- Eric Roberts Apologizes to Sister Julia Roberts Amid Estrangement
- NASA plans for launch of Europa Clipper: What to know about craft's search for life
- Dwayne Johnson Admits to Peeing in Bottles on Set After Behavior Controversy
- Caitlin Clark finishes regular season Thursday: How to watch Fever vs. Mystics
Ranking
- Mike Tyson emerges as heavyweight champ among product pitchmen before Jake Paul fight
- You Have 1 Day Left To Get 40% off Lands’ End Sitewide Sale With Fall Styles Starting at $9
- Ping pong balls thrown at Atlanta city council members in protest of mayor, 'Cop City'
- Jealousy, fear, respect: How Caitlin Clark's been treated by WNBA players is complicated
- Early Week 11 fantasy football rankings: 30 risers and fallers
- Alabama Environmental Group, Fishermen Seek to End ‘Federal Mud Dumping’ in Mobile Bay
- Jason Kelce Has Cheeky Response to Critic “Embarrassed” by His Dancing
- Grand prize winner removed 20 Burmese pythons from the wild in Florida challenge
Recommendation
-
KFC sues Church's Chicken over 'original recipe' fried chicken branding
-
RHOSLC Alum Monica Garcia Returning to TV in Villainous New Role
-
Feds: Cockfighting ring in Rhode Island is latest in nation to exploit animals
-
'Heartbreaking': Mass. police recruit dies after getting knocked out in training exercise
-
All Social Security retirees should do this by Nov. 20
-
False reports of explosives found in a car near a Trump rally spread online
-
Bachelorette: Jenn Tran's Ex Devin Strader Was Arrested, Had Restraining Order From Ex-Girlfriend in Past
-
Vanderpump Rules’ Lala Kent Shares First Photo of Baby Girl Sosa's Face