Stolen King George V Statue Head Resurfaces During Hip Hop Concert

An Irish band engages actively in left-wing activism.

A beheaded statue of King George V is seen in Kings Domain, Melbourne, Australia on June 10, 2024. AAP Image/Rachael Ward

A Irish hip hop band, Kneecap, who professes anti-colonial and “socially conscious lyrics” has appeared on stage in Melbourne with the apparent stolen and decapitated head of a statue of King George V.

The head belongs to a large sculpture of the monarch housed in Melbourne’s Kings Domain parklands that was vandalised by activists during the Kings Birthday holiday last year.

During the attack, the statue was splashed with red paint, its head removed with anti-colonial slogans painted on the site.

The head has been missing since.

It made an apparent reappearance earlier this year around the time of Australia Day with radical activists burning the head on a barbecue.

Now on March 15, it has reappeared at the band, Kneecap’s, performance at the 170 Russell venue in Melbourne.

In a statement posted to social media, the Belfast trio confessed to head being on stage after it was handed to them by a fan.

A photo showed the performer Liam Og O'Hannaidh—also known as Mo Chara—with the head.

“Some madman dropped by with a huge King George’s head so he could hear a few tunes for our last Melbourne show,” the band wrote on Facebook.

“Allegedly his head was cut off last year in the city. Anyways he was put on stage for a few tunes and then whisked away. Remember every colony can fall.”

Kneecap played three sold-out shows and a free performance at Federation Square, where they expressed strong support for the pro-Palestine movement.

During the packed free performance, lead singer Og O'Hannaidh went on to speak about colonialism.

“I don’t have to lecture you right now to let you know there’s a worse occupation happening right now in Palestine,” he said, while saying Australia was owned by the Indigenous peoples.

“I know you don’t need to be lectured but at the same time we use whatever platform we have to talk about it.”

Og O'Hannaidh then led the inner-city crowd on a chat of “free, free Palestine.”

The group is currently touring Australia and New Zealand for the first time.

The on-stage appearance of the king’s head was not the first time the statue piece has been publicly desecrated.

George V, the grandson of Queen Victoria, reigned from 1910 until 1936.

The attack on the statue last year cost Melbourne ratepayers $10,000 to clean, with restorations costs adding more.

It follows a growing trend of repeated attacks against Australian colonial monuments, including a recent incident involving the 270-year-old cottage and statue of Captain James Cook.