Activists have vandalised a statue of King George V in Melbourne’s CBD amid an ongoing campaign targeting the effigies of Australian colonial-era figures.
Footage on social media showed a person wearing a green high-vis jacket cutting off the head of the former British monarch’s statue in Kings Domain on Linlithgow Avenue, near the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
The song, God Save the Queen, by UK punk rock band The Clash was overlayed on the footage.
The account @akaWACA by the “Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance” posted the video on X on June 10—a day Australians were commemorating the annual public holiday, the King’s Birthday.
“We’ve been sent a birthday, greeting for his majesty. Happy birthday mofo!” WACA said in its caption.
“From the river to the sea, #alwayswasalwayswillbe,” they added, citing an oft-repeated phrase by pro-Palestinian activists.
Police were called to the scene just after 9 a.m. on June 10.
“It appears the head of the statue has been removed and red paint thrown at the monument,” a police spokesman said in a statement.
All states in the country were officially on holiday, bar Queensland and Western Australia.
The vandalism came following a string of attacks against the monuments of colonial figures in the country.
In May, a statue of William Crowther, former Tasmanian state premier, was sawn off at the ankles and vandalised with graffiti in Hobart, Tasmania.
The statue was found face-down on the ground in Franklin Square, sprayed painted with the phrases “What goes around,” and “decolonize.”
The monument was sprayed with the words “the colony will fall” in bright red paint.
A statue of Queen Victoria was also defaced with red paint on the same day.
