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Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
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.
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Controversial mural sparks wave of complaints as business faces fine
A confronting mural showing a bound and gagged woman has sparked outrage, with a Melbourne council receiving over 1,000 complaints in just two days. Los Angeles-based street artist Lauren YS was commissioned to paint the mural on a building near Cecil Street in the hip inner city suburb of Fitzroy. But City of Yarra mayor Stephen Jolly said the mural had broken planning laws and the business behind the mural would be fined as result. 'They don't have a planning permit, they'll be approached about that, they'll be dealt with in the normal way,' Mayor Jolly told ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast. He said the council had received more than 1,000 emails in the last 48 hours from local residents as well as interested parties from around the country. Collective Shout, an NGO against domestic violence and sexual exploitation of women, led a campaign against the mural, but many locals backed the artwork. 'I don't know if sexualised images in front of children's faces is a good way of stirring controversy,' one man told ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast. However, another man said: 'I think it's representing a culture that a lot of people don't know about, shibari (Japanese rope bondage) is a beautiful artform that brings intimacy in people.' Lauran YS said in a statement the work was 'about empowerment and queer selfhood'. The artist said the location was chosen to avoid foot traffic and claimed there was a much higher trafficked street close by 'with synthetic boobs in the window'. The mural was shared by the artist on Instagram, stating the piece was a 'parting gift for Melbourne/for the dolls'. In a statement shared on social media, Collective Shout said the artwork 'eroticised violence against women'. Movement director Melinda Reist said: 'This is porn-themed, adult sexual fetishes imposed on a non-consenting audience. 'It depicts the public humiliation of women at a time when we're expressing concern from rising rates of violence against women.' Yarra Residents' Collective spokesman Adam Promnitz agreed: 'While that artwork may be great in a private space, in the street it is the wrong time and wrong place. 'Families and members of the public should not be subject to X-rated artwork without consent.' The mural has subsequently been defaced by another graffiti artist.
