Vandals commit despicable act on seven-decade-old monument during King’s Birthday long weekend
A king George V statue has been decapitated and vandalized Melbourne on the King’s Birthday holiday.
Police were called to the 72-year-old King George statue at Kings Domain on Linlithgow Avenue after it was found damaged at around 9am on Monday.
Footage circulating on social media showed the vandals cutting off the statue’s head before spray painting the words “The colony will fall.”
The video has now been removed.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the incident was under investigation.
A statue of King George has been beheaded and vandalized in Melbourne during the King’s Bank Holiday
Video footage circulating on social media showed the vandals cutting off the statue’s head before spray-painting the words “the colony will fall.”
“It appears the statue’s head has been removed and red paint has been thrown at the monument,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
Victoria and most other states in Australia observed a public holiday on Monday to celebrate King Charles’ birthday.
Other statues have been targeted by vandals this year, including a statue of Captain James Cook that was severed at the ankles before toppling in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens on February 27.
Another statue of Captain Cook on St Kilda’s Jacka Boulevard was also sawed off at the ankles the day before Australia Day.
That same day, a statue of Queen Victoria in the Queen Victoria Gardens near the city was covered in red paint and graffiti.
A second monument to Captain Cook in Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy was found broken and covered in graffiti over the Australia Day long weekend.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
