Some Australians are in no mood to celebrate the country’s national holiday on Sunday because they have long viewed it as a reminder of colonial oppression. Some protesters took this revulsion a step further – vandalizing statues of British settlers and British kings.
The damage in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra was a fresh sign that Australia Day remains divisive.
While some Australians celebrate the holiday with barbecues and pool parties, critics say it triggers centuries of oppression of Aboriginal people. Some people like to call it “Invasion Day” or “Survival Day,” and they express their dissatisfaction through protests or other actions.
In Sydney this week, a statue of Captain James Cook, who claimed part of the Australian continent for the British Crown in 1770, was drenched in red paint. Its hands and nose were also severed. The statue was restored after a similar attack last year.
In Melbourne, a monument honoring John Batman, an explorer who settled the city on Aboriginal-occupied land, was pulled down and destroyed early on Saturday. Protesters in Melbourne also spray-painted the word “Return” on a memorial to Australian soldiers killed in World War I.
Graffiti appeared on a statue of King George V in the capital, Canberra, on Sunday.
Australian officials condemned the vandalism.
Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan said, “We should realize deep down that we respect differences of opinion, but don’t let it get ugly,” 9News reported.
Victoria and New South Wales police representatives said on Sunday afternoon that no one had been arrested or charged in connection with the vandalism in Sydney and Melbourne. Canberra police did not immediately respond to inquiries.
People have been protesting Australia Day for decades. The recent protests have been backed by the global Black Lives Matter movement, with people in the US, UK and elsewhere tearing down statues they see as symbols of racism and oppression.
Last year in Melbourne, a statue of Captain Cook had its ankles sawed off and a monument to George V decapitated.
Many Australian officials are acutely aware of their country’s racist colonial past, and they are not afraid to say so publicly. In one example, the City of Melbourne’s website has a section on “telling the truth” that talks about “building consensus on the impact of colonization and dispossession on Aboriginal people”.
But for some Indigenous activists, simply acknowledging historical wrongs is not enough. This was clear when King Charles III visited Australia last year.
“You are not our king,” a voice rang out shortly after Charles, who retains the ceremonial title of head of state in the former British colony, addressed parliament. “Give us back our land. Give us what you stole from us.
That voice belongs to Aboriginal senator and Aboriginal rights campaigner Lydia Thorpe. When security kicked her out of the chamber, she accused British colonists of genocide and demanded a treaty between Britain and Australia’s Aboriginal people.
The king watched expressionlessly from the stage.
