Monumental upheavals: Unsettled fates of the Captain Cook statue and other colonial monuments in Australia

Abstract

Monuments and statues are forms of commemoration. They typically pay tribute to people or events and aim to serve as a permanent marker, a link between present and past generations, committing them to memory and assigning them with importance and meaning. While commemorations can be beneficial in terms of recognising a legacy of the past and helping foster relationships between opposing groups, they can also be divisive and painful, failing to acknowledge other dimensions of historical fact and further hardening the boundaries between groups in conflict. Essentially, what we choose to commemorate reflects what we as a society actually value. This paper focuses on the unsettled fates of the Captain Cook statue that stands with prominence in Hyde Park, Warrane, and other colonial monuments in Australia. It also discusses the emotionality surrounding such commemorations. We question whether Cook’s actual achievements constitute the notoriety that has been bestowed upon him. A range of commentators have put forward ideas around what to do about the Cook statue which we discuss while also considering what the future might look like if the truth of colonial history is known and open conversations can be had.

‘There is no room in our city for hate’: The re-emerged debates over the current and former place name of a Canadian city

“…Specifically, whereas the early 1990s place name debate centred more on the cultural politics of reviving the original city name, especially as it related to ethnic memory and community identity, the most recent manifestation of the lingering Berlin/Kitchener controversy revolved solely around the appropriateness of maintaining the present-day name -a concern shaped by the current prominence of social justice-related concerns and activism. Carlson and Farrelly (2022) recently note in reference to colonial monuments that 'the very reason [something] may be revered by some can be the same reason it is offensive to others' (p. 63). Both controversies examined in this article reveal that similar to monuments and memorials, urban place names can also be highly divisive and even distressing.…”

“…While social justice-related matters, such as racial discrimination and injustice, have received much attention in recent years, the means by which societies come to terms with violent pasts – what is embodied within the United Nations’ explanation of ‘transitional justice’ 63 – is also gaining increased attention. It has been noted that in many settler societies, efforts to confront this past, are often expressed at the grassroots level with calls to expunge difficult memories of place, whether they be embodied in monuments, memorials, building names, street names or even city place names (Burch-Brown, 2020; Carlson and Farrelly, 2022; Mahoney, 2021; Stemplowska, 2021). As already alluded to, this social trend was bolstered in 2020 by the widespread news coverage of George Floyd’s death.…”

“…As already alluded to, this social trend was bolstered in 2020 by the widespread news coverage of George Floyd’s death. As Carlson and Farrelly (2022) note, his death as well as the earlier killing by police of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, had not only sparked widespread protests against police brutality and racial injustice across the United States, but also contributed to supportive protests for the Black Lives Matter movement and ‘the subsequent challenging [and toppling] of statues erected to heroes of Empire and supporters of the slave trade’ elsewhere in the world (p. 69). To be sure, these troubling events in the United States also contributed to reinforcing localized efforts in Canada to remove markers of memory associated with individuals, whose names like Kitchener, Macdonald, Russell and Vaughan, embody, for some, the violent histories of European imperialism and colonial rule.…”

“…Carlson and Farrelly (2022) recently note in reference to colonial monuments that ‘the very reason [something] may be revered by some can be the same reason it is offensive to others’ (p. 63). Both controversies examined in this article reveal that similar to monuments and memorials, urban place names can also be highly divisive and even distressing.…”

Blue sky mining and Sweet Country: Is it too soon to commemorate colonial violence?

“…Rodney Carter, Dja Dja Wurrung Clans 1 Since completing this essay an important book on commemoration has appeared that would have informed my work here. See Carlson and Farrelly (2023).…”