Severed head of King George V statue may have resurfaced at Irish rappers’ Melbourne gig

The solid bronze severed head of Melbourne’s decapitated King George V statue appears to have briefly reappeared in public, gracing the stage during a performance by a visiting Northern Irish hip hop group.

The statue in the King’s Domain parklands was beheaded during the King’s Birthday Weekend in June 2024 – one of a series of anti-colonial acts of sabotage targeting British memorials in Melbourne.

A social media post by Northern Irish hip hop trio Kneecap – renowned for their Irish republican views and Irish language lyrics – showed what appeared to be the head on stage at Melbourne venue 170 Russell on Friday night.

“Well well a chairde Gael [my Irish friends]! Some madman dropped by with a huge King George’s head so he could hear a few tunes for our last Melbourne show!” the post said.

“Allegedly his head was cut off last year in the city..…anyways he was put on stage for a few tunes and then whisked away…remember every colony can fall 🔥”

Victoria police have been searching for the bodiless bust since June, when it was removed from the 2.7m high solid bronze statue of King George V, which was unveiled in 1952 in the South Melbourne parklands. Police were contacted for comment.

“It appears the head of the statue has been removed and red paint thrown at the monument,” a police spokesperson said in a statement last year.

Authorities had been unable to locate the missing head. On 26 January, pictures posted on social media claimed to show the same head alight on a backyard barbecue along with the #invasionday hashtag.

Other statues were also the apparent target of anti-colonial activists last year, including a statue of Captain James Cook that was cut at the ankles before it toppled in Fitzroy Gardens, near Cook’s namesake cottage in the heart of Melbourne, on 27 February.

Another Captain Cook statue, at St Kilda’s Jacka Boulevard, was also sawn off at the ankles in January 2024.