Monuments in Flagstaff Gardens vandalised

Two monuments in the Flagstaff Gardens in Melbourne were vandalised on January 21, 2026.  They were the Pioneer Monument and the Separation Monument.  The Pioneer Monument, which was designed by Samuel Craven, bears the inscription - Erected in 1871 to the memory of some of the earliest of the pioneers of this colony whose remains were interred near this spot. A reference to the fact that Flagstaff Hill was the site of  Melbourne's first European Cemetery, until it was replaced in 1837 by the Old Melbourne Cemetery, on what is now the site of the Queen Victoria Market.

The sandstone monument was toppled and daubed with 'death to Australia' and other slogans, as well as the inverted red triangle, which is linked to terrorist organization Hamas.

The Pioneer Monument

Image: City of Melbourne, City Collection

The damage to the Pioneer Monument.

Image: Rukshan Fernando Facebook post 22/1/2026

The Separation monument was erected in 1950, to make the centenary of separation of the Colony of Victoria from New South wales, which was announced on November 11, 1850. This monument, of various types of stone, was daubed with the red triangle symbol and slogans.

The Separation Monument

Image: City of Melbourne  https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/separation-memorial/

The vandalised monument.

Image: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-22/colonial-statues-vandalised-in-melbourne-flagstaff-gardens/106255894

The Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Cr Nicholas Reece was reported by the ABC as saying -
"Defacing or damaging city assets in Melbourne will not  -  and cannot -  be tolerated," he said in a statement. "While there are a range of views on statues and memorials, each time a monument is damaged it's ultimately the ratepayer footing the bill - and that is unacceptable. We can have a debate about the future of statues and memorials, but we will never tolerate or reward vandalism."

Speaking further to ABC Radio Melbourne, Cr Reece said the monuments would be repaired, noting the Separation Memorial marked an important event in Australia's democratic history. "The Separation Memorial actually memorialises Separation Day, the day that Victoria became a colony in its own right," he said. "It was actually a great step forward for democracy for the people of the state."

He described the vandals as "idiots". "These are low-IQ individuals who don't actually understand the historic significance of the monuments that they are attacking," he said.

Sources

155-year-old colonial monument destroyed, graffitied in Melbourne's Flagstaff Gardens, ABC news -  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-22/colonial-statues-vandalised-in-melbourne-flagstaff-gardens/106255894

eMelbourne - Pioneer Monument: https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM02108b.htm; Separation Monument - https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM02113b.htm

City of Melbourne - https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/separation-memorial/ 

John Batman Monument vandalised

 In 1881, a bluestone monument was erected at the Old Melbourne Cemetery, later the Queen Victoria Market carpark,  to mark the burial site of John Batman, often described at the time as a ‘founding father of Melbourne’. In 1835 Batman sought to expand Tasmanian  grazing lands into Victoria. He made his controversial ‘treaty’ with Kulin elders 6 June 1835 and returned to Launceston to arrange the new settlement. However, upon his return to Victoria months later, he discovered that John Pascoe Fawkner had already established a settlement on the site of Melbourne. As his health deteriorated, Batman settled on Batman’s Hill, near what is now Southern Cross Railway Station. He passed away from syphilis just four years later, in 1839. In 1922, the Old Melbourne Cemetery was de-registered, and the monument was relocated to the north bank of the Yarra River at Swan Street Bridge. Batman’s remains were exhumed and re-interred at Fawkner Cemetery - ironically named in honour of his rival. The monument was eventually returned to its original location at Queen Victoria Market.

The John Batman monument at the Queen Victoria Market

Image: City of Melbourne Collection

 https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/john-batman-memorial/

The inscription on the monument states:

JOHN BATMAN / BORN AT PARRAMATTA N.S.W. 1800 / DIED AT MELBOURNE 6TH MAY 1839 / HE ENTERED PORT PHILLIP HEADS / 29TH MAY 1835 / AS LEADER OF AN EXPEDITION WHICH / HE HAD ORGANISED IN LAUNCESTON V.D.L. / TO FORM A SETTLEMENT AND FOUNDED ONE / ON THE SITE OF MELBOURNE THEN UNOCCUPIED. / THIS MONUMENT WAS / ERECTED / BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION.

On 25 January 2025, the statue was vandalized and broken in half during the early hours. The monument has long been the subject of controversy. Batman was a key figure in Victoria’s colonial establishment but the original inscription on the monument incorrectly claimed that Melbourne was "then unoccupied." To address this inaccuracy, a plaque was added in 1992 acknowledging that Aboriginal people had originally occupied the land. A second plaque was installed in 2004 further clarifying the historical errors in the monument’s depiction.

The vandalised monument

Image:  Rachael Ward/AAP PHOTOS -

https://nit.com.au/27-01-2025/15924/controversial-monument-of-coloniser-vandalised

Not all colonists applauded John Batman. John Glover, a Tasmanian neighbour of Batman, once described him as "a rogue, thief, cheat and liar, a murderer of blacks and the vilest man I have ever known."