A Melbourne monument commemorating an English explorer has been vandalised by far-left extremists and sprayed with red paint and the aboriginal flag.
The stone cairn in Yarra Bend Park in Kew was erected in 1938 to celebrate Charles Grimes, the first European to discover the Yarra River in 1803, on the site where the first overlanders crossed the river 33 years later.
But a local man was shocked to discovered during a walk on Sunday that the monument had been defaced, and the bronze plaque stolen, in what he described as a “hate crime beyond words” caused by Victoria’s undemocratic treaty with the state’s aboriginals.
Photos of the damage show the cairn coated in red paint, an aboriginal flag sprayed where the plaque was once attached, and large stones broken off and strewn on the ground nearby.
“I lay the blame on a disconnected [Premier] Jacinta Allan that signed a treaty, totally ignoring the clear voice of voting Victorians. This delusional treaty has obviously fuelled a red-hot hatred that will forever split us by race,” the man said.
“It is simply a insane policy and here we see an example of this ALP race baiting policy. Do ALP politicians live in a bubble?”
He also shared a photo of damage to the same monument in December, and photos of the original plaque, which also had a small aboriginal flag graffitied on it.
The plaque read:
“This cairn was erected conjointly by the Kew, Collingwood and Heidelberg City Councils as a memorial to Charles Grimes, Surveyor General of NSW and Party, the first White men to discover the River Yarra, reaching the Yarra Falls on 8th February 1803.
“Also, to mark the crossing of the river near here with cattle by the first overlanders, John Gardiner, Joseph Hawdon and John Hepburn in December 1836.”
The attack on the monument just over two weeks before Australia Day comes after a series of monuments and statues were vandalised and defaced by anti-Australian activists in previous years.
In response to at least 35 attacks in recent years, Anglo-Celtic advocacy group the British Australian Community last January launched a Name Back campaign calling on authorities to protect Australia’s heritage by preventing monument vandalism and the changing of place names.
Header image: Left, right, the Charles Grimes monument after being vandalised, and in 2020 (supplied).
The post Monument to English explorer vandalised by far-left extremists in Melbourne first appeared on The Noticer.
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