Statue row heats up as vote nears
HOBART City Council will vote soon on whether or not to tear down the statue of former premier and Aboriginal skull stealer William Crowther.
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s Nala Mansell said the centre had been demanding council remove the statue for three decades.
Ms Mansell (inset) said it honoured the legacy of a “racist man who snuck into a morgue to cut up the corpse and steal the skull” of Aboriginal man William Lanne.
She said the statue was an unpleasant reminder not only of Dr Crowther’s crimes, but also of the cruelty and mass murder inflicted on Aboriginals at the time.
“The Aboriginal community for many, many years now has been calling for the removal of that statue, which glorifies the racist and barbaric actions of William Crowther,” she said.
“To the Aboriginal community it represents all of the atrocities committed against Aboriginal people when the whites first invaded.”
Alderman Jeff Briscoe condemned the “cancel culture brigade” for trying to erase an important part of Tasmania’s history.
Mr Briscoe said he acknowledged Dr Crowther had done “terrible things”, but said on balance he was a great man who contributed to Tasmania’s legacy. “Even at the time he was shamed, but he went on to provide free medicine for poor people and he was a very respected politician and premier,” he said.
“In the sum of a person’s life there’s going to be good things and bad things, but overall the premier of the day said he needs to be celebrated because overall he was good.”
Mr Briscoe said he had been denied a copy of a report into the future of the Crowther statue, but he suspected the council committee members had already made up their minds.
Mayoral candidate Louise Elliot said the darker side of Dr Crowther’s story should be told via an accompanying permanent installation or artwork, not by removing the statue from sight.
“What Crowther did to William Lanne was terrible, motivated by a lifelong passion for research, science and medicine and, likely, ego. As a result, Crowther was rightly sacked from his position at the hospital,” Ms Elliot said.
“History is sadly full of atrocious acts. Removing the statue won’t change what happened and, while Crowther was far from perfect, his good deeds were many”
Council has set up five temporary artworks criticising Dr Crowther’s actions while it figures out what to do for a “permanent response” to the statue.
Ms Mansell said she was disappointed in council for “dragging out” the process instead of removing the statue once and for all.
The issue will go before a council committee soon and then be brought to councillors for a vote.