The Saga Of Cairns’ Nazi Captain Cook Statue Is Finally Over
A local demolition contractor reportedly bought the statue for $1.
From the Big Prawn to the Giant Pineapple, Australia is lovingly known for the roadside caricatures that dot small country towns and seaside villages alike across our vast continent.
Today marked the final chapter of one of Australia’s more obscure roadside attractions — a giant statue of Captain Cook performing a Sieg Heil above a topless bar in Cairns, Queensland.
While we’re on it. Get rid of this disgusting Captain Cook statue in Cairns. I grew up riding past this every day to school & HATE it! pic.twitter.com/fSaQkhPsWx
— Kerry Klimm (@flashblak) August 23, 2017
The ten-metre high concrete statue has been a controversial fixture in the far north town for over fifty years, with locals and historians at odds to explain the gesture affixed to Australia’s most notorious seafarer. According to The Guardian in recent years, the statue had been used to advertise a topless bar on Sheridan street.
Despite growing community pressure to remove the controversial statue — including a petition to the Cairns council created by Indigenous woman Emma Hollingsworth back in 2020 which received almost 20,000 signatures — the statue has remained firmly fixed in place.
The final deciding factor in the removal of the statue was pretty anticlimactic, occurring only after the land was sold out from underneath it. James Cook University — which owned the block the statue was situated on– brought the statue’s history to an end by expanding its campus via the construction of a local hospital.
James Cook’s concrete Kaiser-saluting likeness was almost left in a skip bin until local demolitions contractor Martin Anton reached an agreement to purchase the statue from the university — reportedly buying it for only $1.
After the removal process was reportedly delayed by heavy rainfall, the statue was lifted onto a flatbed truck today and will be transported to a facility by Mr Anton’s in the Atherton Tablelands.
Cairns’ infamous #CaptainCook statue is set for removal. All 8 metres of it soon to disappear from its home for the last 50 years. @abcbrisbane @abcnews pic.twitter.com/fAq4OorOMS
— Mark Rigby (@Mark__Rigby) May 23, 2022
While this is undoubtedly a win for the activists and Indigenous voices in the Cairns community who have long called for the statue’s removal, there’s still a chance that the statue could return to haunt Queenslanders after Mr Anton told the Cairns Post that his family plans to do “everything in our power to preserve it”.
Junkee has reached out to Martin Anton for comment.
Photo Credit:@Mark__Rigby/@renegadeapostle