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A statue of Captain Cook in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has been damaged and doused in red paint for a second year in a row.
New South Wales police were investigating after the damage to the sandstone statue of the explorer and naval captain was discovered on Friday morning before the Australia Day long weekend.
Capt Arthur Phillip planted a union jack on the shore of Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788 to establish the colony of NSW after the arrival of the First Fleet. Because the date falls on a Sunday this year, the public holiday will be held on Monday 27 January.
James Cook, who claimed the east coast of the Australian continent for Britain after landing in Sydney’s Botany Bay in 1770, has become a controversial figure because of his association with the damage done by colonisation.
For more than 60,000 years before Phillip or Cook arrived in Australia, hundreds of nations of Australia’s first peoples lived across the continent.
Known by many as Invasion Day or Survival Day, 26 January is a day of mourning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is marked by events including protests, ceremonies and vigils.
The statue, on the corner of Belmore Road and Avoca Street in Randwick, had been restored after a similar attack in February 2024.
The Randwick mayor, Labor’s Dylan Parker, said the damage done to the Cook statue was an “act of vandalism” that did “a disservice to reconciliation”.
“Vandalism is an illegal act that does a disservice to progressing your cause,” he said. “Council staff are currently actioning plans to clean and restore the statue.”
Dr Carolyn Martin, a Liberal councillor in Randwick, said the statue was left in an “absolute mess” and council ratepayers would have to pick up the bill for the repairs.
“I’m here with a council worker that looked after it last time when it was damaged, and just to restore it is such a big effort and expense,” Martin told 2GB Radio on Friday.
“But that aside … we’re all just horrified.”
But Philipa Veitch, a Randwick Greens councillor, said in a statement that the statue was “a painful reminder of the devastating impacts of colonisation, which continues to this day”.
“It’s time to look at other options, including its placement in a museum,” she said. “I’m sure there are many local artists who could be commissioned to create a much more appropriate and inclusive work.”
Police said officers from the Eastern Beaches Police Area Command responded to reports of a statue damaged and vandalised by graffiti at about 8.15am on Friday.
They seized “a number of items” at the statue and set up a crime scene that would be forensically examined, and asked anyone with information, CCTV or dashcam footage of the incident to contact Crime Stoppers.
Police also encouraged people to report “any suspicious behaviour” around monuments and other significant sights over the long weekend.
