Regardless of how people feel about these statues, they are part of our history, cultural symbols of the society that evolved into what we have today. They are no less important than the cave paintings in the Kimberley or ancients sites of occupation thousands of years ago. Those old indigenous sites could have been the scene of brutality and murder but they are counted as vital to the history of this country and the statues are no different. They represent the beliefs held at that time, our version of song lines, which are stories attached to physical symbols, a method of remembering the past for indigenous people.
Our history is what made us who we are now, and is no less important than the history of any other culture.

Thank You so much for your comments and for your
civility in expressing them.

Basically my view is as I've stated previously but
perhaps did not make it quite clear - we should
learn from history not air-brush or shove it away.
Therefore, the statues should be retained but their
whole history should be given. Good and bad.
They definitely should not be defaced. Doing so is
vandalism.

Regardless of our politics - these statues are a part of
our history as a nation.

I would also like to see our Indigenous people become a
part of our War Museum in Canberra. Having those who served
our nation and died as a result - they too should be
memorialized along with the others who are.

ok, I don't see what removing any statue will achieve.

But, those caught up the moment, as usual, will.

The vandalism of the Howard and Abbott statues is a complete disgrace, and an example of how dumb some people can be

In 2001 the Taliban destroyed two statues of Buddha...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/world/taliban-destroys-bamiyan-buddha-statues-in-2001/2015/07/29/8e0c35ca-362f-11e5-ab7b-6416d97c73c2_video.html

Exact same mentality or lack thereof with the urge to destroy here.
The same thing happened when the Soviets destroyed Churches and church records under Stalin - an act of historic vandalism orders of magnitude greater than the Buddha destruction.





If the aim of these people is to destroy the memory of anyone who has any sort of moral question mark over them, then where does it end. Who doesn't have something in their closet that wouldn't justify 'cancelling' by the righteous mobs?

Socrates and Plato were slave owners. Gone? Marcus Aurelius? The Parthenon was partially slave built. Tear it down. Coliseum? Pantheon? Vatican?
Those who signed the Magna Carta were slave owners. Tear it up.
And so it goes. Struth, they're even going after Gandhi now.

The mentality of the historically ignorant mobs is that we are so pure and righteous and un-racist that we must erase the past which was all of those things. Its the Year Zero mentality which led inexorably to the Killing Fields.

Its the mentality of 1984 - who controls the present controls the past. Understanding the past is too hard, let's just destroy it instead

Something positive is also happening.

According to The New Daily newspaper - there are
thousands of people gathering in London to "guard"
the statue of Winston Churchill as fears it will be
further vandalised grow.

Apparently some protesters have clashed with police and
were seen to be throwing things at officers and their
horses.

Here at home Victorian police are on alert and are
watching Captain Cook's heritage listed cottage in
Melbourne's Fitzroy Gardens after the statue of Captain
Cook was vandalised in Sydney's Hyde Park. It became a
focus of anti-racist protests. It has since been boarded
up and fenced off.

In Ballarat the statues of John Howard and Tony Abbott
have been wrapped and also fenced off.

The police are doing their job. And should be commended for
it.

According to newspaper reports - statues of explorers
and slave traders are being targeted as a painful
reminder of the Indigenous Peoples'ancestors sufferings
at the hands of the British Empire. This is the rational
being given as figures from The Guardian state that
between 1794 and 1928 there were at least 270 Frontier
Massacres of Aboriginal People.

We're told that these protests are part of the "Black
Lives Matter" protests currently sweeping the globe.
And there have been renewed calls to destroy or
vandalize these statues.

However, people are beginning to take action against
these protestors - as the guarding of the statue of
Winston Churchill in London shows.

The actions of vandalism could have a derogatory effect.
Most people are becoming disgusted with these attempts at
destruction.

Nobody would object to the full truth being told - but
attempts to destroy - do not sit well with most rational
people.

Dear Chris,

I don't believe in taking down ANY of these statues.

I do believe in telling the WHOLE truth however.
The Good and the bad.