Vandals who defaced Captain Cook memorial win the ultimate victory as fate of the statue is sealed
A contentious Captain Cook memorial that has been the target of repeated vandalism is set to be scrapped.
The City of Yarra on Tuesday voted unanimously to remove the statue, which stands at the entrance to Edinburgh Gardens in Melbourne 's inner north.
The granite monument was toppled and graffitied over the Australia Day long weekend and is currently in council storage.
A council report found that it would prove costly, around $15,000, to repair and reinstate the statue after it was toppled and spray painted with the words 'cook the colony' last year.
More than $100,000 has already been spent over the past 25 years to maintain the memorial.
Mayor Stephen Jolly said removing it would eliminate the yearly maintenance costs.
'It's a waste of ratepayers' money,' Mr Jolly told ABC Melbourne.
The memorial has been vandalised several times since 2018.
In 2020, the memorial's plaque featuring Cook's face was spray-painted over, with the words 'shame' and 'remove this' scrawled beneath.
A similar statue of Captain Cook was hacked off at the ankles in St Kilda, and another statue of Queen Victoria near the city's Botanic Gardens was splattered with red paint last year on the eve of Australia Day.
Mr Jolly denied council was giving in to the vandals.
'I don't think it's a good idea to destroy statues of people from the past... But we simply can't afford it,' he said.
'If we wanted to keep it there permanently, we would probably have to have security guards there (and more) lighting. I just don't think the locals want that.'
Premier Jacinta Allan described the ongoing vandalism of monuments as 'deeply disrespectful' and called for community division to end.
'It is disappointing,' she told reporters on Wednesday.
The bronze plaques, which belong to the memorial, are expected to be given to the Captain Cook Society, which celebrates the British explorer.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Australia news live: teal's lead jumps to more than 20 in battle for Bradfield; number of Australian billionaires doubles in a decade
Update: Date: 2025-06-02T21:16:56.000Z Title: Nick Visser Content: Good morning, here to take you through today's breaking news. For now: The race for the NSW seat of Bradfield remains neck-and-neck, with independent Nicolette Boele currently leading Liberal Gisele Kapterian by more than 20 votes. It's still too early to call the seat, as a painstaking – and polite – recount remains under way. The federal election took place exactly one month ago. The number of Australia billionaires has more than doubled over the past decade. In 2015, there were 74. There are now 161, according to Oxfam Australia. Billionaire wealth grew on average by more than $137m per day. Stick with us for all the twists and turns the day has to offer.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Morning Mail: Gina Rinehart's $400,000 Liberal fundraiser, official push to recognise rock art, Israel targets Gaza schools
Good morning. A dispute between the Victorian Liberals and an event organiser has revealed Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart helped raise almost $400,000 for the occasion. In other news, the government will meet with Unesco to lobby for 50,000-years-old petroglyphs in Western Australia to be included on the world heritage list, despite concerns about 'degrading acidic emissions'. We have a visual guide that takes a deep dive into Ukraine's extraordinary attack on Russia's bomber fleet. And the Guardian has learned the Israeli military deliberately attacked school buildings being used as civilian shelters. Environment | The Albanese government will launch a lobbying campaign in a bid to reverse a Unesco recommendation that an ancient rock art site in Western Australia can't go on the world heritage list due to damaging industrial emissions linked to a controversial Woodside gas development. Party woes | Mining magnate Gina Rinehart helped the Liberal party raise almost $400,000 at an exclusive dinner on the eve of the federal election campaign, the event's organiser has revealed, but fallout from the function has left the party embroiled in a public dispute. Abuse | One in three Australian men has reported committing intimate partner abuse, world-first research has found – and the same research has identified new ways to tackle it. Barmy army | The UK government has declared it will put the first of 12 Aukus-class submarines in the water on schedule in the late 2030s, despite its own major projects agency saying the plan to build their nuclear reactor cores is 'unachievable'. Mushroom trial | Erin Patterson has described her religious conversion and a 'never-ending battle' with low self-esteem and weight issues in emotional evidence to her own triple murder trial. Exclusive | A series of recent deadly airstrikes on school buildings sheltering displaced people in Gaza were part of a deliberate Israeli military bombing strategy, with further schools identified as targets, the Guardian has learned. Colorado | A man has been charged with a federal hate crime and multiple other felonies after he allegedly used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices to attack a crowd of people who were raising awareness for Israeli hostages in Gaza, injuring eight. Sicilian eruption | A huge plume of ash, gas and rock has spewed forth from Italy's Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, but authorities said there was no current danger to the population. Citizenship-by-investment | Andrew Tate allegedly secured a 'golden passport' from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu the month he was arrested in Romania on charges including rape and human trafficking, it has been reported. Wheely old | A wheel of parmigiano reggiano has been celebrated as 'an authentic jewel of nature' after setting a longevity record for parmesan cheese. Why the key to good sleep can't be found on TikTok Social media is rife with hacks that claim to help you sleep better and deeper. From melatonin, feeding your baby butter and taping your mouth shut, the solutions range from obvious to unexpected. In conversation with Nour Haydar, anti-viral columnist Donna Lu breaks down the viral hacks that the internet claims will help you get better sleep. Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen $ Örkesh Dölet participated in the Tiananmen Square protests when he was just a 21-year-old student. Now 36 years in exile, Dölet speaks with Nuria Khasim how his connection with his Uyghur identity has instilled in him courage and bravery. He says: 'As Uyghurs, we do the right thing, not the safe thing.' Citrus such as oranges and mandarins are in season, offering grocery shoppers fruit that is sweet and well priced. Blueberries, on the other hand, are 'quite diabolical' from bad weather conditions and the time of year. Maddie Thomas has the lowdown on which fruit and veg you should buy and which to avoid this month. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Soccer | The Matildas beat Argentina 4-1 in a farewell match to coach Tom Sermanni. Cricket | Australian limited overs great Glenn Maxwell has called time on his decorated one-day international career to focus on next year's T20 World Cup and domestic competitions as injuries begin to take their toll. Tennis | Daria Kasatkina's first grand slam as an Australian is over, ended at the French Open by her teenage phenomenon friend Mirra Andreeva. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is under pressure to halt a policy giving Western Australia a greater cut of GST, the Age reports. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, University of Sydney students will no longer be allowed to make non-course-related announcements at the start of lectures after an external review on combatting antisemitism. The Mercury has photos of the Aurora Australis, with the spectacle dazzling some and leaving others underwhelmed. Wages | The Fair Work Commission will release its annual wage review. Perth | The inquest into the death of Cleveland Dodd continues in the Perth Central Law Court. Paris | The OECD Ministerial Council Meeting will convene. If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland. And finally, here are the Guardian's crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Seven men charged after cops bust alleged plot to bring in more than 300kg of drugs from overseas - and the shocking discovery in a shipment from Canada
Seven men have been charged after allegedly plotting to bring more than 300kg of illicit drugs into Australia. Since September 2023, detectives were investigating a 42-year-old man and his associates for allegedly importing and supplying large amounts of prohibited drugs and illicit tobacco. The men were allegedly claiming to have the ability to circumvent border controls with shipments coming in from Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Panama. Police allege the 42-year-old man was using a freight forwarding company in Punchbowl, south west of Sydney, to import the drugs. More than 280kg of liquid methamphetamine was located in an industrial cooler imported from Vancouver, Canada, in July 2024, allegedly organised by the man. Police continued their investigation into the man who allegedly continued to use the freight forwarding company. Over three separate consignments, the man allegedly imported more than 20 million cigarettes from the United Arab Emirates. In May, investigators established the man was planning to import 50kg of cocaine concealed in cement bags loaded in a shopping container from Panama. Police allege the man asked two other men - who flew to Australia from Canada - to help retrieve the cocaine from the cement bags and to help supply it to organised crime groups in NSW. Investigators arrested four men at about 2pm on Friday after executing six search warrants in Moorebank, Punchbowl, Smithfield, Doonside and Mt Annan.
