Sydney’s Captain Cook statue almost loses its feet to vandals in alleged angle grinder attack

The statue of Captain Cook in Sydney’s Hyde Park almost had its feet chopped off on Sunday morning, after two 27-year-olds allegedly took an angle grinder to the 145-year-old monument.

The statue of Captain Cook in Sydney’s Hyde Park almost had its feet chopped off on Sunday morning, after two 27-year-olds allegedly took an angle grinder to the 145-year-old monument.

Police were called to the statue around 1:00am on Sunday after council staff saw a man and a woman all dressed in black allegedly attempting to sever the statue from its ankles.

The couple had allegedly set up a rudimentary rope and pulley system attached to a nearby tree in order to reach the nearly five metre high statue.

One of the 27-year-olds had allegedly been hoisted to the top of the statue where they had allegedly attempted to cut it off at the ankles using an angle grinder.

They only allegedly managed to get halfway through Captain Cook’s right ankle before they were apprehended.

A close up of where the statue of Captain Cook was cut on its ankle. Picture: Damian Shaw

A police spokesperson said the two 27-year-olds were arrested and charged with malicious damage, possess article with intent to damage property, armed with intent to commit an indictable offence and wilfully damage or deface a protected place.

Both were refused bail to appear before Parramatta local court on Sunday.

The Captain Cook Statue was vandalised on Sunday morning, in which a pulley system was allegedly used to reach the nearly five metre tall statue. Picture: Damian Shaw

A City of Sydney spokesperson said the council called an engineer to make sure the statue was structurally sound and would not pose a risk to the public by toppling over.

“The area has been made safe,” the spokesperson said.

“An engineer has attended the site and is confident the structural integrity has not been compromised.

“We will now have experts further assess and advise on repairs and cost.”

The alleged act of vandalism comes after a separate incident where another statue of Captain Cook was completely sawn-off at the ankles in Melbourne in January. The St Kilda statue was graffitied at the time with the words “the colony will fall”.

The British explorer is commemorated for his mapping of the Australian continent and being the first recorded European to make contact with the east coast of the country.

The statue of Captain Cook in St Kilda, Melbourne was cut down in a separate incident in January. Picture: David Crosling

The vandalism of the Hyde Park statue comes amid increasing calls to have the statues removed. The statues are controversial within sections of Australian society due widespread debate about Cook’s colonialistic legacy and the violence associated with his contacts with Indigenous peoples.

City of Sydney councillor Yvonne Weldon called for a review into colonial statues in October last year, saying extra signage was needed to provide an “accurate description” of the people commemorated.

City of Sydney Liberal councillor Lyndon Gannon said any individuals who saw the statue as an unwelcome remnant of Australia’s colonial history should resort to other means than acts of vandalism.

Sydney City Councillor, Lyndon Gannon. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“Old histories should not be burned, anymore than old statues should be torn down,” he said.

“Rather they should be challenged and complemented by new histories, fresh evidence and modern monuments.”

Mr Gannon said he estimated the cost would be high to repair the damage to the monument.

“It’s very frustrating – time and again vandals are costing the taxpayer thousands of dollars to repair these statues, all for some misguided attempt to rewrite history.”

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