A bronze statue of Captain James Cook has been toppled outside the explorer’s namesake cottage in the heart of Melbourne, after a series of recent attacks on statues and monuments bearing his name.
Victoria police confirmed it was investigating criminal damage to the statue in East Melbourne, which caused it to fall to the ground early Monday.
The City of Melbourne said CCTV captured four people cutting down the statue at Cook’s Cottage at about 3.45am on Monday. The council provided the footage to Victoria police and was assessing the damage to the statue to see if it could be repaired.
Video posted to social media by an anonymous activist account appeared to show a person sawing one of the statue’s ankles before it fell to the ground.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said the government would support the council if it wanted to reinstate the statue.
“I think it’s important too, as people consider how to express their views – we have the right to express our views – to make sure that there’s respect for public property,” she said.
“Remember that someone’s got to come in and clean up. Someone’s got to come in after these sorts of acts of vandalism and clean up the mess. That’s not a way to get the message across.”
Allan said people should express their views “peacefully and respectfully.”
It’s the third time this year a Cook memorial has been damaged in Melbourne.
A statue at St Kilda’s Jacka Boulevard was also sawn off at the ankles before 26 January, and the words “the colony will fall” were written in red spray paint on a stone plinth underneath where the statue usually stands.
The same day, a statue of Queen Victoria at Queen Victoria Gardens near the city was covered in red paint and graffiti.
A second monument to Captain Cook at Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy was found broken and covered in graffiti on the Australia Day long weekend.
Melbourne’s Port Phillip council has vowed to repair and reinstate the monument at St Kilda, but a decision has not yet been made about the future of the Edinburgh Gardens monument.
A Victoria police spokesperson said officers were told “unknown offenders” attended Fitzroy Gardens between 5pm on 25 February and 7am on 26 February.
