I see that someone dumped red paint and took a hammer to the Cook statue in Randwick (Sydney). And now people are running around tut-tutting and trying to figure out what to do.

Possible solutions:

1. Move it to a museum in its current state and put some signage up explaining the history of Cook and his interactions with the people who were already living in and around the Pacific when he finally turned up; the history of statue itself; and explain why this vandalism keeps happening.

Or

2. Leave it where it is, and every year someone gets to take some whacks at it with a sledgehammer, and dump some more red paint on it, until it's a little stump of crushed sandstone and paint.

If you're interested in the back story on this particular statue check out Trove. This isn't the first time someone has proposed moving this thing. @trovenewsbot

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114802545

#auspol #invasionday