Captain Cook statue vandalised on Australia Day

A Melbourne statue of Captain Cook has again been vandalised, with vandals dousing it in blood-red paint on Australia Day.

A statue of Captain Cook has been doused in red paint at Catani Gardens in St Kilda after vandals struck on Australia Day.

Detectives are probing the incident after the British explorer was covered from top to bottom in paint, which was dripping onto the ground at the base of the statue.

Port Phillip mayor Marcus Pearl said the council had placed a security guard at the statue in recent years, but it went unprotected this year.

“It hasn’t been vandalised for the past few years, the last time was back in 2019,” Mr Pearl told 3AW.

The Captain Cook statue in St Kilda was splattered with red paint overnight. Picture: Tony Gough

The controversial figure has attracted unwanted attention in recent years. Picture: Tony Gough

A worker hoses the monument off. Picture: David Crosling

He said council security workers were kept busy last night on the St Kilda foreshore and at the council’s Australia Day ceremony early this morning.

“It’s disappointing it’s happened and we’ll have to review our security arrangements again,” he said of the incident.

“We held a beautiful and respectable service with our traditional landowners this morning.

“We like to focus on the traditions that bring our community together, not moving us apart.”

Earlier on Wednesday morning, the We-Akon Dilinja mourning ceremony was held at nearby Alfred Square, drawing hundreds of attendees.

The event, supported by City of Port Phillip included a smoking ceremony and readings.

Crowds gather at the mourning ceremony in St Kilda on Wednesday morning. Picture: Getty Images

Attendees at the dawn mourning ceremony. Picture: Getty Images

The event included a smoking ceremony and speeches. Picture: Getty Images

Meanwhile, the annual Invasion Day March was cancelled by its organisers in favour of a fully online event due to the spread of Covid.

The Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance group urged people to attend a virtual dawn service this morning streamed by the Victorian NAIDOC committee.

“It would be careless to hold an event in the height of a pandemic and a virus that has taken hold of so many in our community,” a group spokesperson said.

The statue, which was erected in the Catani Gardens in 1914, has attracted unwanted attention in recent years.

The same statue was vandalised on Australia Day eve in 2018. Picture: Getty Images

A worker cleans the Captain Cook statue after it was covered in pink paint in 2018.

Vandals dumped pink paint on its head, scrawling “no pride” on its plinth in 2018, on the eve of Australia Day.

The same day, a statue honouring explorers Robert O’Hara Burke and Williams John Wills was splattered with green paint and the word “stolen” written across the plaque.

Another Captain Cook statue was vandalised in 2020, with a cross spray painted over his face and the words “shame” and “remove this” written underneath.