- Vandals who deface historic statues of Captain Cook face seven years in jail
- They could also be liable for an $88,000 fine under Turnbull Government plan
- Monuments older than 100 years are being added to the National Heritage List
- It comes two weeks after statues in Sydney were defaced by political activists
Political activists who deface statues of Captain Cook face seven years in jail or an $88,000 fine under a federal government crackdown to protect Australia’s heritage.
The Turnbull Government is placing statues that are more than 100 years old on the National Heritage List following a series of graffiti attacks on Sydney monuments two weeks ago.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said vandals should not be allowed to ‘rewrite or tear down our history’.
A Captain James Cook statue in Sydney’s Hyde Park was defaced with: ‘No Pride in Genocide’
Vandals who deface statues of Captain James Cook face seven years in jail or an $88,000 fine
‘Australian history contains many painful chapters — particularly for indigenous Australians — but a free society debates its past, it does not deny it. It builds new monuments as it preserves old ones,’ he told The Sunday Telegraph.
His intervention comes two weeks after a statue of Captain James Cook in Hyde Park was defaced with the phrase, ‘No Pride in Genocide’ to protest against a plaque which says the British naval explorer discovered the east coast of Australia in 1770.
Another statute of Governor Lachlan Macquarie was spray painted with, ‘Change the Date’, to protest against Australia Day being held on January 26 to mark the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.
Graffiti vandals also sprayed the words ‘Bow Down’ on a statue of Queen Victoria.
A monument to Governor Lachlan Macquarie was vandalised to protest against Australia Day
The attacks were a statement about the recognition of Australia’s indigenous history.
Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg will ask the Heritage Council advise the government on including other historic statutes on the National Heritage List.
The announcement comes as the government adds Captain Cook’s landing site, Kamay Botany Bay National Park in Sydney’s south, as the 112th site on the National Heritage List.
The graffiti attacks came after ABC indigenous affairs editor Stan Grant criticised the Captain Cook statue plaque for failing to recognise the suffering of indigenous people.
‘The statue speaks still to terra nullius and the violent rupture of Aboriginal society and a legacy of pain and suffering that endures today,’ he said.
The journalist condemned the graffiti attacks.
Malcolm Turnbull says defacing statues isn’t the way to acknowledge indigenous suffering
Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg will ask the Heritage Council about listing monuments