The mystery of the decapitated head of a King George V statue has resurfaced after it surprisingly appeared during a Kneecap gig in Melbourne, Australia.
Kneecap, the outspoken and political hip-hop group from Belfast who won rave reviews for their truth-adjacent biopic, are currently on tour in Australia, with the incident fittingly occurring over St Patrick’s Day weekend.
The band – which is made up of members Mo Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai – shared an image of the statue's head on Instagram.
In the caption, they wrote: “Well well a chairde Gael! Some madman dropped by with a huge King George’s head so he could hear a few tunes for our last Melbourne show!
“Allegedly his head was cut off last year in the city... anyways he was put on stage for a few tunes and then whisked away… remember every colony can fall.”
The statue was decapitated and defaced in June 2024 amid a wave of anti-colonial vandalism in Australia. It briefly reappeared in an Instagram video posted in January 2025 where the head had been set on fire on a barbecue, and has remained missing since – until now.
Several historic statues were damaged in Melbourne and Canberra ahead of the Australia Day celebrations in January this year, as protests around the country showed support for Indigenous people who do not consider it a day to celebrate.
In Melbourne, a statue of John Batman, founder of the country’s second-largest city who was involved in the killing of Aboriginal people, was found sawed in half.
The words “Land back” were spray-painted on a memorial for Australian soldiers who died fighting in World War I. Meanwhile, in Canberra, the words “The colony is falling” were graffitied on a statue of King George V.
“Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit detectives continue to investigate damage to a statue in Kings Domain last year,” read a statement from Melbourne police in regards to the Kneecap concert.
“Investigators are also aware that the head from what appears to be a statue appeared at a concert in Melbourne on 14 March. Detectives will investigate whether there is any link between the two incidents.”
This news follows after Kneecap won their legal challenge over a decision by former business secretary Kemi Badenoch to refuse them a £14,250 funding award.
The UK government was forced to concede the decision was “unlawful”.
The band had launched legal action claiming the decision to refuse the grant discriminated against them on the grounds of nationality and political opinion.
