Arabic version: مدن تعيد تأطير التماثيل الاستعمارية عبر كشف الحقيقة

According to The Guardian, Hobart, Sydney and Melbourne are taking differing approaches to monuments honouring colonial-era figures, with renewed attention on Indigenous histories connected to the statues.

In Hobart, the city council voted in 2022 to remove the statue of former Tasmanian premier William Crowther. Crowther, a surgeon, stole the skull of the deceased Tasmanian Aboriginal man William Lanne in pursuit of phrenology. The bronze statue in Franklin Square was cut down at the ankles in 2024, hours before the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal upheld the council’s removal decision.

A new memorial has since been dedicated at the site. It includes a native garden and a circle of bronze bearing words by three commissioned writers, including the inscription: “Monuments perish, but deeds – good or bad – never die.” Writer Nunami Sculthorpe-Green said it was important to re-centre Lanne’s life and that the Aboriginal community could see its experience and humanity reflected in the space.

In Sydney, a 2013 statue of former New South Wales governor Lachlan Macquarie stands near Hyde Park. In 2023, Sydney city council supported a motion by Yvonne Weldon to incorporate First Nations perspectives on plaques associated with colonial figures. Activist Stephen Langford has repeatedly attached copies of Macquarie’s 1816 orders to troops before the Appin massacre to the statue, saying he would continue until something changed.

Melbourne’s Burke and Wills monument, Victoria’s oldest colonial monument, has been in storage since 2017 after five relocations. The statue is due to be repositioned and unveiled again next year, with new signage recognising the Yandruwandha people’s support for expedition sole survivor John King. Melbourne city council said the monument’s return offered an opportunity to share a broader story of the expedition.