RSL Tasmania says the toppling of a century-old cenotaph on the state’s east coast should give every Australian pause.
The St Helens Cenotaph, dedicated in 1923 to honour local soldiers killed in World War I, was pushed from its base late on Wednesday night.
The incident was captured on CCTV and Tasmania Police are now investigating.
RSL Tasmania president Mike Gallagher and CEO John Hardy said the organisation was “deeply sickened” by the destruction.
“Is this truly what we are becoming?” they asked.
“A society where some believe it is acceptable to destroy the very fabric of our local communities?”
The pair said cenotaphs were more than stone and mortar.
“It is memory made visible,” they said.
“It represents young men and women who never returned home, families and communities who carried grief for a lifetime and generations who understood that freedom is neither automatic nor free.”
They warned the incident pointed to an “erosion” of shared values like remembrance, gratitude and responsibility.
“When those values are ignored, something deeper than stone is fractured,” they said.
But the RSL called on the community to remain hopeful.
“For every act of mindless destruction, there are thousands who still pause at memorials, who still bow their heads and who still teach their children why these places matter,” their statement read.
Break O’Day Council on Thursday secured the site and handed “clear” footage to police.
The council called on those responsible to “do the right thing” and come forward.
Liberal MP Michael Ferguson described the vandalism as “putrid stuff” and called for stronger penalties.
RSL Tasmania said the task ahead was about more than fixing the monument.
“The task before us now is not simply to repair the cenotaph, but to reaffirm what it stands for,’ they said.
“Because if we allow indifference to replace remembrance, we risk losing more than monuments – we risk losing part of our national conscience.”
Police say no charges have been laid at this time and are urging anyone with information to come forward.
