A statue of King George V has been beheaded and covered in red paint in the latest attack on colonial monuments in Victoria.
Police were called to the statue in Melbourne’s Kings Domain on Linlithgow Avenue just after 9am on Monday.
Victoria, and most other states in Australia, held a public holiday on Monday to observe King Charles’s birthday.
“It appears the head of the statue has been removed and red paint thrown at the monument,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.
Other statues have been the target of vandals this year, including a statue of Captain James Cook that was cut at the ankles before it toppled in Fitzroy Gardens, near the explorer’s namesake cottage in the heart of Melbourne, 27 on February.
Another Captain Cook statue, at St Kilda’s Jacka Boulevard was also sawn off at the ankles the day before Australia Day.
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That same day, a statue of Queen Victoria at Queen Victoria Gardens near the city was covered in red paint and graffiti.
Another monument to Captain Cook at Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy was found broken and covered in graffiti over the Australia Day long weekend.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.