Parkville community devasted by war memorial vandals

Parkville community devasted by war memorial vandals

A statue commemorating Parkville residents who died during World War One was defaced just days before Australia Day, leaving the community “shocked” and “confused” by the vile act.

The statue, which has stood stood near the corner of Royal Parade and The Avenue since 1925, was doused with red paint and anti-colonial messages on January 25, with the words “land back” and “the colony will fall” painted over the names of fallen veterans.

Parkville Association president Rob Moore was shocked by the attack and said that the actions were “inappropriate” and have left many residents extremely upset.

“These were all young people who gave their lives to save Australia,” he said.

The statue is of an Australian soldier carved in Italian marble and is a part of the Parkville War Memorial which is where community members traditionally attend ANZAC day services.

It has been a part of the Parkville community for just shy of 100 years and is dedicated to the memory of soldiers who died during the First World War.

One of the men commemorated is Corporal John Jageurs whose father, Peter, was the mason who crafted the memorial.

On the same night as the Parkville incident, a statue on Queen St of the founder of modern-day Melbourne, John Batman, was also damaged.

At about 2.20am on Saturday, Victoria Police were called following reports that it had been vandalised.

The statue was found to have been dislodged from its plinth and appeared to have been cut in half. A crane was required to remove the statue and transport it to a secure location.

It is unclear if the two statues were defaced by the same people.

A Victoria Police spokesperson told Inner City News on January 28 that the investigation into the criminal damage incident remained ongoing.

City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece said, “Defacing and damaging city assets will not be tolerated in Melbourne.”

“We have ramped up security around high-risk targets – including installing temporary CCTV," Cr Reece said. 

“Our team responded swiftly and professionally – cleaning and repairs were underway within an hour of Council being notified.”

The council said its cleaning crews responded as soon as alerted – and the site was cleaned within one hour •

Like us on Facebook