Captain Cook memorial removed after repeated vandalism

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Captain Cook memorial removed after repeated vandalism

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.

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