Vandals Deface 270-Year-Old Cottage, Attempt to Behead Statue of Captain Cook

A vandalised statue of early explorer Captain Cook at Fitzory Garden, Melbourne, Australia on Feb. 25, 2025. AAP Image/Diego Fedele

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen has condemned the vandalism of another statue of early explorer Captain James Cook this year.

This time, vandals also targeted the 270-year-old cottage of Cook’s parents in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens with graffiti—it was previously defaced in 2014—while attempting to saw off the head of the Cook statue.

The statue had only just been repaired and repositioned this month after it was sawed off at the ankles on Feb. 26 last year.

On Feb. 25, the state premier condemned the attacks.

“It advances no cause,” the premier told reporters in the inner-city suburb of Brunswick.

“We'll work with council authorities around any restoration of repair work that needs to be undertaken.”

Allan said the senseless vandalism had no place in society.

“We’ve simply got to come back to some central elements of respect in our community,” she said.

Police believe the vandals were active around 2 a.m. on Feb. 25, and fled after being confronted by security staff who informed them they were being recorded.

“The Captain Cook statue, which also stands in the gardens, has been damaged by what appears to be an attempt to remove the head,” a police spokesman said.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece condemned the attack, which saw anti-Cook sentiments sprayed on the cottage’s walls.

“While there are a range of views on statues and memorials, each time a monument is damaged, it’s ultimately the ratepayer footing the bill—and that is unacceptable,” he said.

The acts follow an ongoing campaign by vandals to deface historic monuments in Australia.

Earlier this year, one of the country’s earliest statues of Captain Cook in Sydney’s Randwick was damaged and splashed with red paint prior to Australia Day, while another was sawed off by the ankles in the Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda last year.

The remnants of a Captain Cook statue in St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 25, 2024. A Captain Cook statue in Melbourne has been hacked off at the ankles the day before Australia Day. AAP Image/Diego Fedele

Meanwhile, footage has recently emerged of what appears to be the missing statue head of King George V, which was removed in June last year.

The Instagram account run by radical activists, Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance and Disrupt Wars, shows the head sitting on a flaming barbeque.

Victorian Police said there was not enough evidence from the video to determine the location or connection to the defaced statue.

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

The move to damage or remove historical monuments is part of the broader “cancel culture” movement to erase memorials to those deemed to have committed historic crimes—activists often blame colonisation.

However, the trend has also been criticised as being too narrowly focused.

“When we start removing the statues of historical figures of whom we disapprove, we have to remove everything else: the streets, highways, parks, universities, and cities named in their honour and even the memory itself,” wrote contributor Charlotte Allen in The Epoch Times.

“But this is the very aim of the statue removal movement: to leave us with nothing except what the movement’s progressive proponents can control.”

Cottage History

The cottage is a historical monument as it dates back to 1755, having been built by Cook’s parents in Yorkshire, England.

In 1934, Australian Sir Russell Grimwade had the home relocated to Melbourne, including cuttings of the original ivy which still adorn the walls to this day.

While Cook never actually lived in the cottage, it still holds historical value and is a popular tourist attraction.

The 1755 build date also pre-dates Cook’s arrival to Australia in 1770, making it a particularly historic monument in Australia.