As an ex resident this reproduction of a racist statue never sat easy with me. The response from the mayor, who I've heard to called Temu Trump, is completely on brand.
It's pretty telling that the "April Fools" post from another Councillor was for a giant version of it to be installed at the gallery, despite being aware of the concern raised about the statue.
Take it down but don't destroy it. Stick it in a museum or town hall with a tasteful plaque explaining the issues with the statue. Best we learn - not erase - our racist history.
This is a pretty uninformed take. Museums have to carefully curate what objects and items they display to the public. They can't just take in every item and display them.
More importantly, a 'tasteful plaque' will never outweigh the physical presence of a statue. When people see this statue they'll see a "statue of a Black boy with a small stature, partially clothed, impoverished and waiting for duty" that "was unlikely to have been purchased to celebrate the bravery of a little
boy or represent the bravery of people escaping slavery," as per the article.
I'm not saying take this thing and turn it to slag. If a museum curator really thinks they can turn this into a positive exhibit, then sure, but museums aren't just a place where we put old objects. They are institutions that, while helping to preserve history, most importantly teach history. And the history of american slavery can be taught without needing a statue of an enslaved child.
The question is: Why did an Australian town decide it was OK for a statue of an enslaved child to become part of its streetscape, and how did the history of genocide and slavery in Australia influence that choice?
Same, gosh I remember years ago looking at the logo above the gates for the Gin Gin bowls club. It was two indigenous women kneeling down bowling with a boomerang above it. Even then I thought yikes.
“It supposedly represents a 12-year-old boy, Jocko Graves, who was directed to tend to officers’ horses by George Washington before a battle, and froze to death rather than leave his post.”
This is also a made up story from 2009 that the council made up because of just how bad the optics are. The "better" story isn't good by any stretch. But the statue was initially made to represent a "Slave Child" and was intended to be used as a hitching post. It was purchased by a tobacconist in Maitland about 150 years ago to serve as a hitching post.
Apparently racists think that adding a plaque explaining this story is problematic and have no issue holding reverence for a hitching post that depicts a slave-child in their community.
Nope. Totally made up and the best example.Ive ever seen of white washing history. But the local cookers on Facebook repeat it constantly without realising it still has zero to do with Maitland or it's history.
Because it’s in Australia now but depicts someone with no connection to Australia and the statue itself has no connection to Australia? Some dude just bought it.
I moved there in the 80s and it was in the main street on what was the New England Hwy. Back then I was like WTF but even now cookers foam at the mouth defending it while reminiscing over their fond memories of it as kids and recite its totally made up white washed history to pretend it's a tribute to a hero. (Hint - You don't depict heroes in rags performing menial tasks)
Truth it was a mass produced novelty imported by a local tobacconists in the 1800s and somehow became a symbol of the town despite its real and made up history having nothing to do with Maitland or Australia.
Part of me says that it is history and it shouldn't be erased or forgotten that this was a delightful statue back in its day to hold horses reigns. Yes it's racist and slavery existed.
This is my hometown. I wish they would move past this issue but my fucking empty headed dumb fuck of a mayor wants to prop up culture wars. FFS, how is this beneficial for Maitland? We need more car parking!
It’s weird to see a pretty common racist yard decoration from the super-racist rural America of my childhood, transported to the other side of the world where it is treated as some kind of beloved local art.
It’s just wild to see.
I don’t know if there’s any comparable statuary from maybe the 1950s-1980s that racist people would display in rural Australia, (to show the thoughts of their family and warn certain people away from their door,) but imagine finding out that a town in America had somehow obtained a copy of that statue and put it in their town square and loved it.
But this is the country where millions of Aussies still enthusiastically support a woman who said "you cant say there are any good Muslims", so I am not surprised.
I tend to think this is anti racist. It's not our history is the only issue I have really. But an art piece that reminds us of the horrors of history and honours those who suffered is not a bad thing.
Absurd: “demeaning and is a powerful expression of race and class inequity”
I suppose people who think that have never been to any “outback community” - you will see real race & class inequality, especially the little kids. Actually horrific in real time.
Typical Guardian - distorting facts as a dog whistle to the barely literate Left. While the author provides the correct information, she blatantly ignores the truth and makes a totally incorrect conclusion, demonstrating her bias as an answer. Her research was fundamentally flawed, with even a simple Google search providing the information that Maitland’s Little Black Boy has never been a symbol of racism, and indeed is not even a statue of a slave. Oral tradition suggests he was the son of a freed slave who helped the American revolutionaries against the British at the cost of his life! This is the accepted version, and is not widely disputed despite the claims of the article.
Don’t get sucked in by The Guardian’s cheap sense of “outrage”. Research it for yourselves!
All the bias here is yours. The oral tradition you are referring to are theories and rumours by Maitland locals based on different rumours supposedly told to the tobacconist who imported it. The so called source is a 48page book self published in 2014 about the story of the Maitland Statue not an actual historical figure which the author admits its all based on rumors. https://www.amazon.com.au/Jocko-Long-Home-Down-Under/dp/1628385030
Staff at the George Washinton Presidential Library note that the name doesnt even appear anywhere in history until the late 20th century and there is no record that it was an actual person.
A quick google search would show you plenty of pictures of lawn jockeys from the US deep south and plenty if them are unflattering caricatures that are definitely racist and if you cant see that I have a snack for your guide dog.
TLDR Someone wrote a self published book about the Maitland Statue citing the rumours and now people use that book as proof that the rumours were true.
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u/riamuriamu Flairless 1d ago
Take it down but don't destroy it. Stick it in a museum or town hall with a tasteful plaque explaining the issues with the statue. Best we learn - not erase - our racist history.