Statement on the Vandalisation of Public Monuments and War Memorials
STATEMENT ON THE VANDALISATION OF PUBLIC MONUMENTS AND WAR MEMORIALS The following statement was adopted by the Council of the Military History Society of New South Wales at their meeting on Monday, 28 October 2024: As a body dedicated to preserving and honouring our state’s military heritage, the Military History of New South Wales is disturbed by continuing instances of defacement, vandalism and misuse of historical public monuments, including war and veterans memorials. Acts of physical destruction as a means of political expression should be condemned unreservedly. These attacks represent an infringement of community rights. They are an illegitimate substitute for the democratic processes by which these monuments are properly managed with broad popular consent. This is true even if controversy surrounds the monument in question. In the case of war memorials, the attacks dishonour the sacrifice, and insult the relatives, of those who gave their lives for the precious freedoms