Captain Cook statue sawn off at the ankles in Australia Day anti-colonial protests

Activists in Australia have toppled a statue of Capt James Cook and daubed a statue of Queen Victoria with red paint in protest at British settlement of the country more than two centuries ago.

The bronze statue of the British explorer was sawn off at the ankles, with vandals spraying the words “the colony will fall” on its granite plinth.

Capt Cook, who was born in Yorkshire and claimed the eastern coast of Australia for the British Empire, was described as a “murderer for British imperialism” by protesters.

The damage to the monuments, both of them in Melbourne, came as the country prepared to celebrate Australia Day on Friday, the annual holiday which commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney in 1788 and the establishment of New South Wales as a penal colony.

Australia Day has become increasingly contentious, with some Aboriginal people calling it Invasion Day and saying it marks the start of a process of dispossession and discrimination for the original inhabitants of the continent.

Politicians condemned the attacks, which are being investigated by police, as inexcusable vandalism.

The statue of Capt Cook, which was erected in 1914 in a park in St Kilda, was toppled at around 3am local time on Thursday.

The St Kilda statue of Captain James Cook was felled in the early hours of Thursday morning

The Queen Victoria statue, which was unveiled in 1907 and is located near Melbourne’s Royal Botanical Gardens, was sprayed with red paint. Activists unfurled a banner, decorated with an Aboriginal flag, that read “Land Back”.

Video footage of the attacks was posted on an anonymous Instagram account. It showed masked and hooded protesters climb the plinth of the Capt Cook statue and cut it off at the ankles with angle grinders.

“Captain Cook was a murderer for British imperialism, Queen Victoria a director and overseer of genocide,” a message on the Instagram account read. “Colonialism will never be celebrated, only toppled. Listen up, act up, disrupt.”

A Queen Victoria monument was also covered in red paint – Diego Fedele

Jacinta Allan, the premier of Victoria, said the vandalised statues would be repaired and cleaned. “This sort of vandalism has no place in our community,” she said.

Marcus Pearl, a councillor, said the statue of Capt Cook should “definitely be repaired and reinstated to all its glory… it’s going to take a little bit of time and a bit of craftsmanship”.

John Pesutto, the leader of the opposition in Victoria and a member of the centre-Right Liberal Party, also condemned the attacks, describing them as “totally unacceptable”.

He acknowledged that Australia Day, celebrated each year on Jan 26 with picnics and barbecues, “is a source of pain for a number of indigenous Australians”.

But, he said, “we must always debate and discuss our differences in a respectful manner”.

Heather Cunsolo, a local mayor, said: “We understand and acknowledge the complex and diverse views surrounding Australia Day. We cannot condone, however, the vandalism of a public asset where costs will ultimately be borne by ratepayers.”

A council worker cleaning the Queen Victoria statue – MARTIN PARRY/AFP via Getty Images

Statues of British colonial figures have been attacked several times in the past, particularly in the lead-up to Australia Day, as the country’s culture wars over its historical legacy gather pace.

There is an ongoing debate about whether to celebrate Australia Day on a less contentious date, one that is not so intrinsically tied to the continent’s white settlement.

Pat Cummins, the captain of the national cricket team and a prominent sports personality, believes a less offensive, more inclusive date should be found.

“I absolutely love Australia. It is the best country in the world by a mile,” he said. “We should have an Australia Day, but we can probably find a more appropriate day to celebrate it.”

In October, Australians rejected a proposal that would have given greater political rights to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who have inhabited the country for more than 60,000 years.

In a national referendum on whether to create an indigenous body that would advise parliament, all six states voted against doing so.

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