The moment vandals brought down colonial premier’s statue

A video of vandals toppling and defacing a statue of former Tasmanian premier William Crowther has emerged | WATCH

The William Crowther statue in Franklin Square Hobart has been vandalised overnight resulting in the statue being removed from it's plinth and then removed by Hobart City Council. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

A video of vandals toppling and defacing a statue of former Tasmanian premier William Crowther earlier this week has emerged on social media.

The video shows a hooded vandal spray-painting the words ‘What comes around’ on the plinth of the 1889 statue and then using an angle-grinder or similar hand-held cutting device to fell the statue from the lower legs.

It appears to have been posted by crym.earth, which describes itself as a “network of resistance against colonial exploitation...a fight to stop the climate crisis and take back power from the bastards who loot our planet”.

Crym.earth said the video was provided anonymously with the following statement: “On the lands where one of the truest and most brutal attempted genocides was committed against the Tasmanian aboriginal people, it is unfathomable that the colony would continue to celebrate racist butchers like Crowther whilst continuing to sweep it’s ongoing colonisation under the rug.

“We can’t erase history, but we can tear down the horrible colonialists who have disgraced it until we wake up to the reality of colonisation on this continent.”

Tasmania Police is investigating the attack, which pre-empted by hours a planning court decision on Wednesday to allow the Hobart City Council to lawfully remove the statue.

Dr Crowther, noted for his work treating the poor, was in 1869 accused of removing and stealing the skull from the corpse of Aboriginal man William Lanne – a claim he denied. He went on to be premier from 1878-79.

The council last year resolved to remove the statue, in Hobart’s Franklin Square, in response to calls from some Indigenous groups, who said it caused ongoing offence and hurt to First Nations people.