By Cassandra Morgan and Sophie Aubrey
Vandals have beheaded the statues of two former prime ministers in an incident that has been labelled by a senior police officer as an attack on the community, just days before January 26.
The heads of statues depicting Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd were severed and stolen in a crime spree at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens between 2am and 5am on Thursday, when police say the bronze busts of 20 Australian prime ministers were damaged.
The vandalised statues were cordoned off with security fencing on Friday.Credit: Justin McManus
The remaining 18 statues’ name plates were covered in spray paint, and police have estimated the damage to be more than $140,000, with each of the stolen heads valued at about $50,000.
It comes as Port Phillip Council reveals it has paid $4000 for a 3D digital scan to be kept as a template of its oft-defaced Captain Cook statue at Catani Gardens in St Kilda and has invested about $15,000 in security measures to protect the statue in the days surrounding Sunday’s Australia Day.
The statue is under 24/7 guard and the council’s mobile CCTV trailer is stationed nearby streaming to St Kilda Police Station.
On January 25 last year the metal statue was sawn off at the ankles, with vandals spray-painting “the colony will fall” on the granite plinth. It has been doused with paint four other times since 2018.
The Captain Cook statue in St Kilda’s Catani Gardens under guard on Friday.Credit: Wayne Taylor
The council spent $10,000 restoring the statue last year, with another $13,594 covered by insurance.
“We don’t believe vandals should determine what public assets stand in our city,” said Port Phillip mayor Louise Crawford, who encouraged people to attend the council’s dawn ceremony on Sunday with Boonwurrung elders.
“While acknowledging the diverse and deeply held views surrounding Australia Day and colonisation, we believe damaging the statue ultimately doesn’t further any cause.”
In Ballarat on Friday, Senior Sergeant Brad Hall said investigators were looking for a group of about four offenders and were seeking to speak to the occupants of a white ute seen in the area early on Thursday morning.
Hall said the attack appeared to be politically motivated and that the vandals likely used an angle-grinder to behead the two statues.
He blasted the vandals for their “senseless act”.
“This isn’t just an act of vandalism or graffiti. This is an attack against the Ballarat community. The gardens are a much-loved community location for everybody,” Hall said.
“It’s only a matter of time before you’re arrested and put before the courts. I’d suggest you expedite that and return the heads to where they need to be.”
A CCTV image of a white ute police believe was involved in the vandalism of prime ministerial statues at Ballarat Botanical Gardens.Credit: Victoria Police
Hall appealed for anyone with CCTV footage or information about the vandalism to come forward.
Prime Ministers Avenue is on Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree and contains a collection of busts of the first 29 prime ministers of Australia, each featuring a bronze cast mounted on a polished granite pedestal.
Sculptor Peter Nicholson, the artist behind several of the busts, including Keating’s and Rudd’s, said the sculptures would have been difficult to destroy.
“It is very upsetting … especially for the people of Ballarat,” Nicholson told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“[The avenue is] very popular. It’s got every prime minister since federation, and it’s the only one of its kind in Australia. It’s just a disgraceful thing that it’s been vandalised in this way.”
Workers placed fencing around the damaged statues on Friday.Credit: Justin McManus
The Keating statue had been vandalised before and was reinforced with steel through the neck, Nicholson said.
“I don’t know how [the vandals] did it,” he said.
“There have been various bits of vandalism on them, so they’re very strongly made, and very strongly secured.”
Nicholson said he had previously given moulds of his statues to Ballarat Council.
The bust of Paul Keating, created by Peter Nicholson, before the vandalism this week.
Police urged anyone who saw people acting suspiciously near the statues to come forward.
City of Ballarat mayor Tracey Hargreaves said the vandalism was “completely unacceptable”.
“It is not only extremely costly to our ratepayers and will divert money away from critical council services, but it detracts from Ballarat as a city,” she said.
The Ballarat Botanical Garden Foundation condemned the vandalism, saying it was a “severe blow to not only the community but to all who work and care for the gardens”.
“Like many members of the Ballarat community, we are deeply saddened to hear of the vandalism of Prime Ministers Avenue today,” the foundation said.
“The avenue is a source of pride for the local community and has been a site of national significance since it was opened by the governor of Victoria in 1940.”
The exhibit has long been the site of vandalism attempts, with Tony Abbott and John Howard’s busts sprayed with red paint in 2020.
In Sydney on Friday morning, police were called to a Captain Cook statue in Randwick in the eastern suburbs after its nose and hand were broken off and red paint was splashed on its pedestal.
Walkers pass one of the statues on Friday.Credit: Justin McManus
“NSW Police encourages members of the public to report any suspicious behaviour around monuments and significant sights across the Australia Day long weekend,” officers said in a statement.
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