"Christchurch’s Captain James Cook statue survived the earthquakes largely unscathed" – but not the vandals

Cook statue by William Trethewey (1892-1956),
defaced and partially repaired

"Christchurch’s Captain James Cook statue ... survived the earthquakes largely unscathed ... [but last week] his eyes were gouged out, his nose was ground off and a red cross daubed on him. To the great credit of Christchurch City Council, facial repairs have already been made, though the cross is still very visible. ...
    "[H]is voyages – and tragic death – preceded any significant European settlement by decades. Therefore, holding him to any personal, adverse responsibility here is both silly and misplaced. The same goes for a North Island tribal chief executive’s characterisation of Cook as ‘a barbarian’ when the whole ethos behind Cook’s voyages was specifically not imperial conquest but that noble Enlightenment goal (trashed by postcolonial academics in recent years), ‘dare to know’....
    "It is the vandals, not Captain Cook, who are blind. Their defacement of his statue is an emotionally immature and ill-educated act of copycat vandalism ... Smashing Cook’s face helps no one’s understanding of history and does nothing to allay the suffering of indigenous peoples as a consequence of the arrival of Europeans. ...
    "Cook must be repaired, retained and explained, otherwise our heritage is trash."

~ Mark Stocker, from his post 'Captain Cook’s Loss of Face in Christchurch'