Paint Thrown On Cenotaph

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31043, 26 April 1966, Page 18

Paint Thrown On Cenotaph

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, April 25. Vandals hurled pink paint over the Cenotaph in the Auckland Domain early on Sunday morning, less than 36 hours before Anzac Day services.

A large area of the monument was smeared, the steps and paving stones of the Court of Honour were splashed and two of the six flags were so badly damaged that they had to be replaced.

Auckland City Council workmen spent all Sunday afternoon cleaning the Cenotaph, but the paint had penetrated the stonework and a large pink stain was discernible today on the western face of the monument. Mr G. A. F. Filmore, deputy superintendent of parks, said no words were scrawled on the Cenotaph. “It looked as if someone took the lid off a tin of paint and just fired it at the Cenotaph,” he said.

The water-based plastic paint was still sticky when just before noon workman began to remove it with chemicals and steel brushes. Although the workmen scrubbed and scraped for

more than five hours they could not restore the blemished stonework fully. It will have to be steam cleaned.

The damaged flags, which were to have been presented today to schools, were replaced from town hall stocks. The Cenotaph was floodlit on Sunday night and checked by police patrols in case of further desecration attempts. A crowd of almost 10,000, one of the biggest in recent years, attended the Anzac Day dawn service today.