Man charged with Pam the Bird graffiti attacks on Flinders Street Station clock, CityLink Cheese Stick
The alleged culprit behind the infamous Pam the Bird graffiti tags on Melbourne landmarks — including the Flinders Street Station clock — has been unmasked as a 21-year-old from Yarraville.
Police & Courts
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The alleged culprit behind infamous Pam the Bird graffiti tags on Melbourne landmarks has been unmasked as a 21-year-old from Yarraville.
Jack Gibson-Burrell was on Thursday arrested and charged with more than 50 offences, including criminal damage, burglary and theft of a motor vehicle.
He is accused of painting the Pam the Bird on the Flinders Street Station clock, the “Cheese Stick” above CityLink and the Novotel at South Wharf recently.
The damage and clean-up bill from the alleged vandalism spree, which has spanned years, is estimated to have exceeded $100,000.
Mr Gibson-Burrell was arrested outside Victoria University in Footscray sporting a pair of Lightning McQueen Crocs.
He is also accused of ramming an allegedly stolen Volkswagen into the Nando’s restaurant on Barkly St late last year.
The vehicle was spray-painted with text reading “we don’t accept cash here”. It caused significant damage to the store.
A 39-year-old man was also arrested in Abbotsford on Thursday, charged with more than 20 criminal damage offences.
He is understood to be behind the “SROCK” tag seen on several Metro Trains and a handful of other city buildings.
Sporting a black T-shirt, shaved head and short beard, Mr Gibson-Burrell was brought into the dock of Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday alongside his co-accused, Matthew White.
The pair’s lawyers indicated they would apply for bail, with the hearing stood down so they could speak to their clients.
It’s not Gibson-Burrell’s first run in with the law, with the then teenager avoiding jail in 2022 for spraying a security guard with red paint after he was caught painting the signature bird on a Brisbane train.
His victim was reportedly hospitalised with burns and breathing difficulties.
Outside Southport Magistrates’ Court, Gibson-Burrell squawked like a bird when questioned by reporters.
He also faced charges in 2023 over a tag in the City Loop.
Pam the Bird has amassed a cult online following, with Instagram account @goodbirtart having nearly 70,000 followers.
Police seized an abundance of abseiling gear and various tools used to access buildings during the search warrants.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Jason Wombwell said the arrests were the result of a tough and “old-fashioned” police investigation.
“He definitely knows what he’s doing in terms of the climbing and gaining access,” Sergeant Wombwell said of the Yarraville man in custody.
“It’s always good to come to the conclusion of a successful arrest and operation.”
Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines said there was “no excuse”, labelling graffiti a “scourge” that must be stamped out.
“You can make … excuses about it, but in the end ... it’s not clever and it’s not smart,” he said.
“It’s dangerous, and it’s something that we need to stamp out, and we have very strong penalties in place that the courts can draw on to hold people to account.”
Lord Mayor Nick Reece said he was “delighted” to hear of the arrests.
“Pam the Bird has cost the ratepayers, the taxpayers, the property owners of Melbourne a fortune in cleaning costs and the arrest of these two alleged offenders is a step forward in the war to clean up Melbourne,” he said.
“Any artistic merit in the work of Pam the Bird is more than outweighed by the vandalism and the cost of the defacing of fine Melbourne buildings by Pam the Bird.
“This is not art, this is vandalism, pure and simple.”
Cleaning graffiti in the city has been one of Mr Reece’s top priorities since he took office in November.
The City of Melbourne also recently commissioned a “cleaning blitz” of problem areas during the Australian Open.
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