A second Captain James Cook monument has been vandalised in Melbourne's suburbs.
The latest, at the Rowe Street entrance of Edinburgh Gardens, two kilometres north of the City in Fitzroy North, has been targeted; with the stone monument cut at its base and spray painted with words reading "COOK THE COLONY".
It follows a string of incidents on Thursday last week, where a James Cook statue at St Kilda Beach was sawn off at the ankles and the Queen Victoria memorial was splattered with red paint close to the CBD.
At St Kilda's We-Akon Dilinja reflection ceremony in the early hours of Friday, Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council chair Jason Briggs criticised vandals of the nearby site, who he said "do not speak for us".
It's understood police are investigating the incidents and potential links between the three.
"The plaque has been pushed over and sprayed with red paint," police said of the latest vandalism in a statement, according to the ABC.
"It is yet to be established when the damage took place, and the investigation is ongoing."
The Edinburgh Garden monument has been the target of similar occurrences in recent years.
In 2020, within a month, it was spray painted with the words "SHAME. DESTROY WHITE SUPREMACY. REMOVE THIS" and marked with "murderer" in separate incidents.
