A large wooden sculpture that took an internationally renowned artist hundreds of hours to construct for the Giants of Mandurah exhibition south of Perth has been burned down.
The arson squad is investigating after firefighters and police were called to a fire at Coodanup Foreshore Reserve on Peel Parade at 11:30pm on Friday.
The blaze caused extensive damage to Vivi Cirklestone, one of six sculptures built by Danish recycle artist Thomas Dambo and hidden throughout bushland in an interactive scavenger hunt.
Tens of thousands of visitors from WA, interstate and abroad have attended the exhibition during the five weeks it has been running for, according to the City of Mandurah.
Each giant is made from recycled wood, including pallets from a brewery in Perth, and takes around 750 hours to construct with a team of workers and volunteers on site.
Minister for Culture and the Arts and member for Mandurah David Templeman said the local community was "ropeable".
"This project has … involved so many local volunteers working with the artist Thomas Dambo to create something remarkable, something special that celebrates our beautiful region, our waterways, our ocean, our bushland," he said.
"And some pillock has gone and ruined it with the destruction of one of these magnificent, giant sculptures."
Mr Templeman said he and the City of Mandurah will talk to the artist and exhibition organisers FORM to see whether it can be rebuilt and how they can better protect the other sculptures without restricting how close people can get.
"Thomas Dambo … wants this to be a sensory experience. He wants kids to touch them.
"We'll obviously need to look at how we can protect them better.
"Our community here in Mandurah, they are pretty angry about this … and so I think there will be plenty of people who'll be very, very vigilant."
The exhibition will be on display until at least November 2023.
"It's a unique, artistic, cultural experience for families and kids," Mr Templeman said.
"So whoever did this, don't wreck things for other people, don't wreck things for kids, don't wreck things for families. Don't do it.
"It's ridiculous, it's pathetic. But we're going to rise, we're better than this."
City of Mandurah deputy mayor Caroline Knight said there was much sadness within the community about the vandalism and urged families to continue visiting the other giants.
"We will do everything within out power to protect the others and look into them," she said.
"Our community are very passionate about them."
Tourists and locals alike came to inspect the damage after finding out about the destruction.
"It's just taken away something special that Mandurah had," one local resident told the ABC.
Police are urging anyone who has CCTV, mobile phone or dash-cam vision of the area between 10:30pm on Friday and 1:30am on Saturday, or who has information relating to the fire, to contact Crime Stoppers.
