Captain Cook statue in Sydney doused with red paint ahead of Australia’s controversial national day Randwick mayor says vandalism does ‘disservice to reconciliation’ but Greens councillor says statue marks ‘devastating impacts of colonisation’.
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.
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.
Known by many as Invasion Day or Survival Day, 26 January is a day of mourning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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.
