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Anti-racist activist Stephen Langford had a partial win, with the District Court on May 8 dismissing charges against him for pasting Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s own words on a piece of paper on his statue in Hyde Park.

“All Aborigines from Sydney onwards are to be made prisoners of war, and if they resist they are to be shot and their bodies to be hung from trees in the most conspicuous places near where they fall so as to strike fear into the hearts of surviving natives”, were Macquarie’s words. Langford had used craft glue.

“The fact remains that this statue of mass murderer Governor Lachlan Macquarie is still a public symbol of the many massacres of Aboriginal people by the British colonial and later Australian authorities in this country,” Langford told 91������̳.

“The court’s decision also means that the implied constitutional right to freedom of speech is still extremely limited in Australia.”

Langford was arrested, strip searched and held for 24 hours at the Surry Hills police lock-up on June 18, 2020. He was later convicted of seven charges relating to damaging the statue but he appealed the verdict.

Judge Christine Mendes dismissed Langford’s appeal, saying that free political communication did not deny lawmakers the right to sanction trespassers to protect public property. However, Mendes accepted the law had infringed his rights, saying his stance was “”.

“For many citizens, Mr Langford’s interest in raising public awareness about the legacy of Australia’s colonial history and the absence of First Nations perspectives of history in the public domain is highly commendable,” Mendes said.

, the first Aboriginal councillor in the City of Sydney’s 180-year history, said she stood with Langford and commended his advocacy.

“There is not a single publicly funded statue commemorating a First Nations person in the City of Sydney … meanwhile there are more than two dozen statues around the city centre commemorating colonial figures. This imbalance is unacceptable and it reflects the erasure of First Nations history, culture and perspectives more broadly.”

Weldon pushed for a review of inscriptions on 25 statues in 2023 to address offensive descriptions of colonial figures’ deeds. Langford said no action had followed and called on the City of Sydney “rectify the gross historical cover-up reflected in the inscriptions on the statues of Governor Macquarie and other colonial figures”.

“We are living a historical lie in this city and this country,” Langford added. “As part of answering the call for truth-telling, let’s start by placing inscriptions on the statues of past colonial figures which state the facts about crimes which were committed in enforcing dispossession and oppression on the original Aboriginal population.”