Lets tear down all the statues. Basically these guys are all arseholes!

[Basil22]

The statues inspire debate and encourage historical curiosity and learning. Know about history, the good and bad and learn the difference between them. An empty plinth reflects an empty, incurious societal mind.

Unpopular opinion but I agree. I find it weird how we judge historical figures by current morality. One day meat eating will probably be seen as barbaric, does that mean any famous figures from current times that aren’t vegans will be scrubbed from history?

I understand the sentiment behind pulling them down, but still find it strange and maybe even counter productive. You know, so we don’t make the same mistakes

[warwick1]

Unpopular opinion but I agree. I find it weird how we judge historical figures by current morality. One day meat eating will probably be seen as barbaric, does that mean any famous figures from current times that aren’t vegans will be scrubbed from history?

I understand the sentiment behind pulling them down, but still find it strange and maybe even counter productive. You know, so we don’t make the same mistakes

You cant change history to suit your own beliefs, live and learn from it..............

[God Member]

Of course people in history should be judged by current standards if we’re to learn anything about the past, .

That totally ignores the context of the times. We are perfectly capable of learning from the past without reacting like it happened yesterday. They were brutal times, not like today - at least in civilised countries. People on both sides were made coarse and brutal by a desperation to survive. The colony was barely hanging on, the aborigines were barely hanging on. They fought each other. They killed each other. The British had more muscle in the end. Back in England meanwhile they were still hanging children of ten or twelve in public for minor crimes. Grow up wiith that literally in your face and the importance of historical context, the way the times damaged psyches and dulled consciences, becomes clear. Even the best people had contradictions and were victiims to varying degrees of their own times. There was no escape from it. Read The Fatal Shore as a primer. If you put everything you could and should put onto a plaque, on some statues it would be all plaque and no statue, like Andrew Peacock was all shiver and no spine. If a plaque and a statue invites people to learn more, then it is doing its job, I agree with you.

[God Member]

Like when a guy kills his wife and people say he was a good bloke though...

Eh? What does a frontier war in colonial times with natives spearing settlers and soldiers shooting blacks have to do with a bloke murdering his wife in modern day Prahran, Vic?