Statue honouring the Noongar man’s stand against racism was swiftly removed – yet so many monuments to men who killed and dispossessed Aboriginal people still stand

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Divided opinion about the Western Australian government’s swift, unilateral removal of a statue honouring the former AFL player Nicky Winmar’s stand against racism in light of his domestic violence conviction highlights the potentially fraught nature of memorialising the living.

What should happen to the statue or the plaque, the street name or building honouring a living person should they transgress after its dedication? Should the memorial, no matter what form it takes, be amended to document the transgression? Or simply removed, as was the case with the Perth Stadium statue depicting the former St Kilda player and Noongar man famously lifting his jersey and pointing at his skin in response to terrible racial abuse by Collingwood spectators in 1993?

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