A controversial statue of William Crowther has been toppled in Franklin Square, Hobart, after its legs were cut through the night before a ruling to remove the statue was delivered.
It was dumped face-down on the ground beside its podium, which was graffitied in red with the word “decolonize” and “what goes around”.
An investigation into the damage caused to the statue overnight is under way, Tasmania police said.
The statue of Crowther – a former Tasmanian premier who broke into a Hobart morgue in 1869, removed the skull of Aboriginal man William Lanne and sent it to the Royal College of Surgeons in London – has long been the subject of calls for removal.
Hobart city council in 2022 voted to remove the statue from Franklin Square after years of campaigning from Indigenous groups, with a report to the council noting Aboriginal people expressed pain about its presence.
The William Crowther statue in Franklin Square, Hobart, already a target of vandalism, has been cut off. pic.twitter.com/ixizwFeKdY
— Ghost of Tanaka (@GhostofTanaka) May 14, 2024
But the approval of the development application for the statue’s removal was appealed through the Tasmanian civil and administrative tribunal.
Former Hobart councillor Jeff Briscoe was one of three people to appeal against the decision, arguing against the statue’s removal on seven grounds, including that the square’s historical and cultural heritage would be affected.
The tribunal dismissed the appeal on Wednesday morning, noting the removal would have a “positive resulting impact”.
“This is a very important decision for Hobart’s commitment to truth telling, telling the truth of our colonial history,” the Hobart lord mayor, Anna Reynolds, said.
Reynolds said “we’re incredibly disappointed” that the statue was vandalised “before the decision was announced”.
The council aims to “reunite the feet with the rest of the statue” and “preserve it in a respectful manner”.
“We will be ensuring that it’s part of our valuables collection,” Reynolds said. “That was part of the council decision, that it would certainly be looked after, preserved and stored in a safe place.”
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre campaign manager Nala Mansell said: “We would have loved to have seen it removed a long time ago.
“We no longer have to have that reminder .... of the hurtful and degrading actions of people like William Crowther.”
A temporary sign will replace the statue, detailing its history, including “the deeper history of this time and what happened between Crowther and Lanne”, Reynolds said.
This is not the first time the statue has been targeted – in 2021, it was painted red and draped in an Aboriginal flag, and in 2023 it was again painted red and vandalised with yellow spray paint reading “no pride in genocide”.
– With AAP
