‘Land back’: colonial monuments destroyed and vandalised in Melbourne’s Flagstaff gardens | Melbourne

Two monuments to colonial Australia were vandalized overnight in Melbourne’s Flagstaff gardens.

Police said they believed machines were used to demolish the Pioneer Monument, a sandstone obelisk erected in 1871 to commemorate the first cemetery in Europe.

The monument was smashed into pieces near its plinth on Thursday morning, and the words “go back to the land” and “death to Australia” were written on it in red paint.

An inverted red triangle was also painted on the monument. The triangle appears at a different angle on the Palestinian flag and is considered by some to be a sign of resistance, but it is also a symbol associated with Hamas.

Another nearby monument, the Secession Monument, was also vandalized with red paint, police said.

The Separation Monument was erected in 1950 to mark the centenary of the formal separation of the colony of Port Phillip, now known as Victoria, from New South Wales.

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Police said Thursday that a crime scene has been established around both monuments and the investigation is ongoing.

Police believed the incidents occurred between 10pm on Wednesday night and 6am on Thursday morning.

Much of the paint on the monuments had been stripped away, and workers were removing the crumbling walls from the site just after 10 a.m. Thursday.

Victorian premier Jacinta Allen said the incident was a “disgrace”.

“Victoria Police will be investigating and I would urge anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers. Groups who continue to commit these crimes must face the full force of the law,” he said.

Melbourne mayor Nick Reece said the council was working closely with police on the issue.

“This type of behavior will not be tolerated and is unacceptable in Melbourne,” Reece told 774 ABC Radio Melbourne on Thursday morning.

He described the unidentified perpetrators as “idiots”.

“I mean, I want to deface a monument that actually celebrates a great step forward for democracy, giving people the right to vote and all those other great rights and benefits, and say ‘Death to Australia’. [that] “Coming from Victoria and becoming a colony is just stupid.”

Statues commemorating Australia’s colonial history have been the target of vandalism in Melbourne in the past; Australia Day, January 26, was a particular flashpoint.

On 24 January 2024, the statue of Captain Cook in St Kilda’s coastal gardens near Jacka Avenue was cut off at the ankles and its base was spray-painted with the slogan: “The colony will fall.”

This year, Thursday, January 22, was also marked as a national day of mourning for the 15 people killed in a terrorist attack on Sydney’s Bondi beach in December, when two gunmen allegedly inspired by the Islamic State targeted the Hanukkah event.

“Even on a day about love and unity, these people can’t help but promote hatred and destruction,” Allan said, referring to the national day of mourning.

Reece said the council had increased security at statues and monuments across Melbourne with tornado fencing and cameras in some areas by January 26, but this was not available at the Flagstaff monuments on Wednesday night.

“We will of course review the arrangements for the rest of our collection and speed things up in the coming days,” Reece said.