Captain Cook’s statue vandalized ahead of Australia Day
Australian police are investigating after a statue of Captain James Cook was covered in red paint and defaced ahead of the Australia Day weekend.
It is the second time in 12 months that a statue has been vandalized in Sydney.
Australia Day is a national holiday celebrated every year on 26 January – the anniversary of the landing of Britain’s First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788. Many Indigenous Australians say that this date pains them.
The local council in Randwick – the suburb where the statue is located – described the vandalism as “detrimental to the community and detrimental to reconciliation”.
Councilor Caroline Martin told Sydney radio station 2GB that vandals had cut off an arm and parts of the face and nose.
The statue – which was first unveiled in 1874 – was first targeted in February last year, when it was covered in red paint and parts of its sandstone base were damaged. Its repair and restoration work was completed after a month.
There are several statues of Captain Cook throughout Australia, and others have also been vandalized on or around 26 January.
Melbourne was cut by one in 2024 on the eve of the holiday, while its facade was spray-painted with the words “The colony will fall”. Two years ago the same statue was sprayed with red paint, while in 2018 the words “No Pride” were written on it and a tribal flag was placed next to it.
