‘Land back’: colonial monuments destroyed and vandalised in Melbourne’s Flagstaff gardens

Statues commemorating Australia’s colonial history have been targets for vandalism in the past, with Australia Day on 26 January being a particular flashpoint. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

Two monuments to colonial Australia have been vandalised in Melbourne’s Flagstaff gardens overnight.

Police said they believed machinery was used to pull down the Pioneer Monument, a sandstone obelisk erected in 1871 to commemorate the first European burial ground on the site.

The monument was smashed into pieces beside the plinth on Thursday morning and daubed with the words “land back” and “death to Australia” in red paint.