Vandalism of Sir George Grey statue 'misdirected anger', historian says
Tuesday, 16 June 2020
Covering a monument to former prime minister Sir George Grey in central Auckland with blood-red paint has been described by one historian as 'misdirected anger'.
The statue commemorating the 11th prime minister and two-time governor, which stands in Albert Park, was daubed with red paint on Sunday evening.
As well as the red paint smeared across the statue's face, chest and hands, it appears there was text written across the monument, which has since been removed.
The words 'stop' and 'racist' were still faintly visible when Stuff visited the statue on Monday afternoon.
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Paul Moon, Professor of History at Auckland University of Technology, said those who had been vandalising statues must be 'fairly insecure to feel threatened by statues made out of bronze and marble'.
He said the recent vandalism and removal of statues would not change a single thing about what had happened 150 to 200 years ago and described the process of colonisation in New Zealand as 'inevitable'.
'You can't change history,' he said.
'Now all of a sudden to remedy it, it doesn't make sense.'
Moon felt the vandals had 'misdirected anger' but acknowledged part of the issue was the monuments had been erected in the Victorian era.
'The aim was to memorialise significant leaders, but none of us are perfect and to think no one is without fault is very naive.'
He said Grey was an 'odious' man in many respects who was disliked by many settlers and Māori over his confiscation of land.
Grey was governor during the initial stages of the New Zealand Wars where many Māori were killed and land was confiscated.
He was considered a 'pioneer scholar' of Māori culture, and wrote a study of Māori mythology and oral history.
A Waitangi Day protest in 1987 saw the statue's head broken off, but it was later replaced.
In order to achieve lasting change, Moon felt the way forward was to educate, rather than vandalise.
Plaques or even QR codes linking to video explaining who the statues were of and the good and bad they had done would be a more constructive way of somehow solving things than paint and hammers, he said.
'It is precisely the fact these statues create discussion – who is this person? What have they done? What are their faults?'
'To amputate the visual remnants of our past doesn't serve anyone's interest.'
Police were not immediately aware of the vandalism being reported.
Peter Tilley, Auckland Council's art collection manager, said it does not file police reports for vandalism on artwork unless there is significant damage or sufficient evidence.
'Vandalism on any public property is unacceptable. The tagging on the Sir George Grey monument will be cleaned by the end of this week.'
The vandalism of Sir George Grey's statue is the latest in a spate of incidents relating to Auckland statues.
A New Zealand Wars monument on Wakefield Street in the CBD also appeared to have red paint on it on Monday afternoon.
A 25-year-old woman is due to appear in the Manukau District Court on Tuesday, charged with wilful damage after allegedly vandalising a statue in Ōtāhuhu on Sunday morning.
On Friday, Hamilton City Council removed a statue of Captain Hamilton, a day after Huntly kaumātua Taitimu Maipi told Stuff he intended to remove the bronze figure during a protest march over the weekend.
It comes after leaders of the Māori Party called for an inquiry into colonial monuments and statues, in the wake of George Floyd's death in the United States and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Several statues overseas have been pulled down or removed – in the UK city of Bristol, a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was rolled into the harbour, and a statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston in the US was beheaded.