Australia surrenders to anti-colonial activists as vandals repeatedly defam Captain Cook to commemorate the ultimate victory
A controversial Cook Memorial is a target of repeated vandalism.
Yara City voted unanimously on Tuesday to demolish the statue, located at the entrance to Edinburgh Gardens in the north of Melbourne.
The granite monument was overthrown and graffitied during the long weekend of the Australian Festival and is currently in Parliament.
A report from the Council found that restoration and restoration of the statue would prove that it would be expensive after the statue was overthrown and sprayed with the term “Cook Colony”.
Over the past 25 years, $100,000 has been spent to maintain the memorial.
Mayor Stephen Jolly said canceling it will eliminate annual maintenance costs.
“It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Joley told ABC Melbourne.
The memorial has been vandalized several times since 2018.
Statue in Edinburgh Garden has been deleted after multiple vandal incidents
Mayor Stephen Jolly says canceling the statue will eliminate annual maintenance costs
In 2020, the memorial patches were painted with Cook’s face, sprayed with the words “shame” and “delete”.
Captain Cook’s statue was cut off at St. Kilda’s ankle, and another statue of Queen Victoria near the city’s botanical garden was splashed with red paint on the eve of Australia Day last year.
Joley denied that the Council was succumbing to the vandals.
“I don’t think destroying the statue of a person from the past…but we can’t afford it,” he said.
“If we want to keep it there forever, we may have to light there (and more). I just don’t think the locals want that.
Prime Minister Jacinta Allan described the monument’s ongoing destructionism as “deeply respected” and called for the end of community division.
“It’s disappointing,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
The bronze medal belonging to the memorial is expected to be given to Captain Cook, who celebrates the British explorer.
