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Australian constabulary are investigating aft a statue of Captain James Cook was covered successful reddish overgarment and disfigured, up of the Australia Day weekend.
It is the 2nd clip successful 12 months that the statue successful Sydney has been vandalised.
Australia Day is simply a nationalist vacation that is held each twelvemonth connected 26 January - the day of Britain's First Fleet landing astatine Sydney Cove successful 1788. Many Indigenous Australians accidental the day causes them pain.
The section assembly successful Randwick - the suburb wherever the statue is located - described the vandalism arsenic "a disservice to the assemblage and a disservice to reconciliation".
Councillor Carolyn Martin told Sydney vigor presumption 2GB that the vandals had knocked disconnected 1 manus and parts of the look and nose.
The statue - which was archetypal unveiled successful 1874 - was antecedently targeted successful February past year, erstwhile it was covered with reddish overgarment and had parts of its sandstone damaged. Works to repair and reconstruct it were completed a period later.
There are respective Captain Cook statues crossed Australia, and others person besides been vandalised connected oregon astir 26 January.
In 2024, 1 successful Melbourne was chopped down on the eve of the holiday, portion its plinth was spray-painted with the words "the colony volition fall". Two years earlier the aforesaid statue had been splashed with reddish paint, portion successful 2018 it was graffitied with the words "no pride" and had an Aboriginal emblem placed adjacent to it.
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