Some Australians were in no mood to celebrate the country’s national day on Sunday because they saw it as a reminder of long-standing colonial oppression. Some protesters took this antipathy a step further by vandalizing statues of British settlers and the English monarch.
A new indication of the damage done in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra was that Australia Day, which commemorates the time a British fleet sailed into Sydney Harbor to start a penal colony in the late 18th century, was divisive. is
Even as some Australians mark the holiday with barbecues and pool parties, critics note that it speaks to the motion of centuries of oppression of indigenous peoples. Some people like to call it a day of attack or a day of survival, and they make their displeasure known through protests or other actions.
This week in Sydney, a statue Captain James Cookwho claimed part of the Australian continent for the British Crown in 1770, was Drenched in red. His hands and nose were also cut off. The statue was restored after facing a similar attack last year.
In Melbourne, a Monument For John Bateman, an explorer who settled a city on land occupied by Aboriginal people, was demolished and Wrecked early Saturday. Protesters in Melbourne also spray-painted the words “Landback” on a memorial to Australian soldiers who died fighting in the First World War.
And in the capital Canberra on Sunday, there was graffiti on a statue of King George V. “The colony is collapsing,” someone had written on their base in red.
Australian officials condemned the vandalism.
“We should find it in our hearings and in our minds to respect differences of opinion but not let it turn ugly,” said Victoria’s state premier, Jacinta Allen. According to a report By Television Station 9 News.
Police representatives in the states of Victoria and New South Wales said on Sunday afternoon that no arrests or charges had been made in connection with the vandalism in Sydney and Melbourne. Police in Canberra did not immediately respond to inquiries.
People have protested on Australia Day for decades. Recent protests have been fueled by the global Black Lives Matter movement, which has torn down the statues in the United States, Britain and elsewhere for what it sees as symbols of racism and oppression.
Last year in Melbourne, there was a Captain Cook statue Off the anklesand was a monument to King George V Head pen.
Many Australian officials are well aware of their country’s racist colonial past, and they are not afraid to say so publicly. In one example, there is a section on the City of Melbourne website.A truth tellerIt talks about developing a “common understanding of the effects of colonization and dispossession on colonized peoples.”
But simply acknowledging historical errors is not enough for some indigenous activists. This was evident when King Charles III visited Australia last year.
Charles immediately retained the formal title of Head of State in the former British colony. Then, “You are not our king,” came a voice. “Give us back our land. Give us what you have stolen from us.
The voice belonged to Lydia Thorpe, an Indigenous senator and Indigenous rights activist. As security guards escorted him out of the chamber, he accused the British colonists of genocide and demanded that Britain make a treaty with Australia’s indigenous population.
The king watched from the stage.
