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The Star
  • 1/24/2025
A statue in Sydney of British explorer James Cook, captain of the first Western ship to reach the east coast of Australia, was sprayed with red paint and damaged two days before Australia's national day, authorities said on Friday (Jan 24).

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00:00A statue in Sydney of British explorer James Cook, captain of the first Western ship to
00:07reach the east coast of Australia, was sprayed with red paint and damaged two days before
00:12Australia's National Day. Authorities said on Friday that it was the second time the
00:17statue has been defaced and vandalised in the last year. Police said that they had begun
00:22an investigation and that several items had been found near the statue.
00:27Oh, it's disgusting, disgraceful, everything. I mean, this is Australia. Why should this
00:33happen here?
00:35For many Indigenous Australians, who trace their lineage on the continent back 50,000
00:40years and make up about 4% of the country's population of 27 million, the Australia Day
00:46holiday is known as Invasion Day, symbolising the destruction of their cultures by European
00:52settlers. Many Indigenous groups want Australia to drop celebrations or move the date, which
00:57marks the anniversary of the arrival of the British First Fleet in 1788.

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