STATUES of prominent Australian historical figures Lachlan Macquarie and Captain Cook were vandalised in Sydney’s Hyde Park over the weekend.
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Earlier this year, Lachlan Macquarie’s statue in Windsor’s McQuade Park was also vandalised.
The grafitti in Hyde Park comes mere days after debate about the appropriateness of the statues of Cook and Macquarie.
Indigenous television presenter Stan Grant penned an opinion piece for the ABC last week, which questioned why Cook’s statue was engraved with the words ‘Discovered this territory in 1770’.
Grant said the statement was patently false, and presented a false version of history where Aboriginal people were waiting to be discovered the British.
Others have also taken issue with the plaque on Macquarie’s statue, which labels him a ‘perfect gentleman’, despite the fact that while governor, he ordered soldiers to kill Aboriginal people after violent disputes erupted between them and settlers.
Hawkesbury politicians said they believed history should be told as it happened, and amend the plaques and statues to also reflect that Indigenous people lived here long before the British arrived.
Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural and Education Centre’s Erin Wilkins said she was firmly of the belief Macquarie’s statue should remain in the Hawkesbury.
Wilkins added that perhaps a statue of Indigenous people could also be erected either in Hyde Park or McQuade Park.
