Sir George Grey statue in Auckland vandalised, smeared with red paint
Monday, 15 June 2020
A monument to former prime minister Sir George Grey in central Auckland has been covered with blood-red paint.
The statue commemorating the 11th prime minister and two-time governor stands in Auckland's Albert Park, in the heart of the city.
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.
**READ MORE:
* Who are New Zealand's statues, monuments and places named after?
* Woman arrested over alleged vandalism of Auckland memorial statue
* Controversy over New Zealand colonial statues long-standing
* 'Absurd and shameful': Winston Churchill statue sealed in steel ahead of UK protests
**
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.
A New Zealand Wars monument on Wakefield Street in the CBD also appeared to have red paint on it on Monday afternoon.
It is the latest in a spate of incidents relating to Auckland statues.
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.
Police told Stuff they also had spoken to a group of young people seen tagging a statue in Albert Park with chalk on Sunday.
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.
Last week, in a statement to Stuff, Auckland Council said it was reviewing elements of its removal or re-siting of art policy 'in light of recent events'.
Council has 'clear guidelines' around any discussions relating to removal or re-siting of art, with the policy essentially stating the removal of a piece of artwork is considered only after careful and robust evaluation, and when no other option exists.
Auckland Council Art Collection Manager Peter Tilley told Stuff on Monday that the statue was daubed with red paint on Sunday evening.
'Our contractors will remove all paint by the end of the week.'