Some Australians were reluctant to celebrate National Day on Sunday, having long seen it as a reminder of colonial oppression. Some protesters took their animosity a step further and vandalized statues of British settlers and the British monarch.
The damage in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra was the latest sign that Australia Day, which commemorates the arrival of the British fleet into Sydney Harbor to establish a penal colony in the late 18th century, remains divided.
Some Australians celebrate the holiday with barbecues and pool parties, but critics say it was the catalyst for centuries of oppression of indigenous peoples. Some people prefer to call this day “invasion day” or “survival day,” and they make their displeasure known through protests and other actions.
This week in Sydney captain james cookClaimed part of the Australian continent for the British Crown in 1770. wet with red paint. His hands and nose were also severed. The statue had been restored after a similar attack last year.
In Melbourne, monument John Batman, the explorer who settled the city on land occupied by Aboriginal people, fell; It was destroyed early Saturday. Protesters in Melbourne also spray-painted the words “Land Down” on a memorial to Australian soldiers killed in World War I.
And on Sunday, a statue of George V was spotted with graffiti in the capital, Canberra. Someone had written in red paint on its pedestal the words “The Colonies Fall.”
Australian authorities condemned the vandalism.
Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan said: “We must find it in our minds and hearts that while we respect differences of opinion, we must not let them get ugly.” . According to the report According to TV station 9News.
Representatives from Victoria and New South Wales police announced on Sunday afternoon that no arrests or charges had been made in connection with the vandalism in Sydney and Melbourne. Canberra police did not immediately respond to inquiries.
People have been protesting on Australia Day for decades. Recent protests have been reinforced by the global Black Lives Matter movement, which has toppled statues seen by people in the United States, Britain and elsewhere as symbols of racism and oppression.
Last year, a statue of Captain Cook was erected in Melbourne. cut off the ankleand there was a monument to George V. beheaded.
Many Australian government officials are keenly aware of their country’s racist colonial past and are not afraid to say so publicly. As an example, the City of Melbourne’s website has a section on “.tell the truth” talks about fostering “a common understanding of the impact of colonization and dispossession on Aboriginal people.”
But for some Indigenous activists, simply acknowledging history’s inaccuracies is not enough. That was evident when King Charles III visited Australia last year.
“You are not our king,” chants rang out shortly after Charles, who holds the ceremonial title of head of state in the former British colony, finished addressing parliament. “Give us back our land. Give us back what you stole from us.”
That voice belonged to Lydia Thorpe, an Indigenous senator and Indigenous rights activist. As security escorted her from the chamber, she denounced genocide by British colonizers and called for Britain to make a treaty with Australia’s indigenous peoples.
The king watched from the stage with no expression on his face.
