Two monuments symbolizing Australia’s colonial past were damaged by protesters on Thursday ahead of an increasingly polarizing national holiday that marks the anniversary of British settlement.

A statue in Melbourne of British naval officer James Cook, who in 1770 charted Sydney’s coast, was sawn off at the ankles, while a Queen Victoria monument in the city’s Queen Victoria Gardens was doused in red paint.

Another one. Who is really behind this? Captain Cook statue sawn off now Queen Victoria monument defaced in Melbourne on eve of 26 January, Australia Day. https://t.co/1IMjQF1Brwpic.twitter.com/eSCV5AMkkH

— Sunnie (@sunniewithrain) January 25, 2024

Images posted on social media showed the body of the Cook statue lying on the ground with the words “The colony will fall” spray-painted on the stone plinth where the statue formerly stood.

Melbourne, Australia – footage emerges showing a group of people sawing down Captain Cook statue & covering statue of Queen Victoria in red paint @VictoriaPolice@theage@theheraldsun@australian@7NewsMelbourne@3AW693@SkyNewsAust@9NewsMelb@2GB873@JacintaAllanMP@AlboMPpic.twitter.com/HbDqgTQmdI

— Menachem Vorchheimer (@MenachemV) January 25, 2024

Australia Day, held each year on Jan. 26, commemorates the anniversary of British settlement in 1788. {snip}

For many Indigenous activists, Australia Day is known as “Invasion Day” as it marked the beginning of a sustained period of discrimination and dispossession of Indigenous peoples without the negotiation of a treaty. {snip}

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