Veterans have been reduced to tears after a historic monument at a war memorial near Brisbane was destroyed in a suspected far-left extremist vandalism attack.
The top section of the sandstone cenotaph in Anzac Memorial Park, Cleveland, was found smashed to pieces after being toppled on Saturday night or early Sunday morning, just three days before Remembrance Day.
Queensland Police said they were investigating the incident, and have not said whether it is being treated as criminal damage, but locals told local content creator Andre Mamet, known online as Ausmaxx, that four teenagers were seen laughing as they destroyed the monument, which was built in 1920.
Live at the scene in Cleveland, Brisbane where Antifa have destroyed an Anzac monument with just 5 days before Remembrance Day. https://t.co/ws8E7l2Wwa
— Ausmaxx | Andre (@Ausmaxx1) November 8, 2026
“I spoke to four locals who were here witnessing it all last night, who said it was four teens laughing whilst they were doing it,” he said in a video recorded in front of the damaged cenotaph on Sunday afternoon.
Liberal National Party MP Henry Pike called the incident “absolutely disgraceful”, and said it showed tough laws were needed to punish anti-Australian vandalism.
“I’ve spoken with the local RSL Sub Branch President this morning, who told me there were veterans in tears at the sight of the damage. It’s heartbreaking, and entirely senseless,” he said.
“This is exactly why I’ve been pushing for my Australian National Symbols and Heritage Protection Bill, which would introduce specific Commonwealth offences for deliberately damaging, defacing or desecrating our war memorials.
“These memorials are not just pieces of stone. They represent the courage, service and sacrifice of generations of Australians. Australia’s history is worth defending, and our war memorials deserve the strongest possible protections.”
Acting Mayor Julie Talty, whose great uncle’s name is among 15 engraved on the monument for making the ultimate sacrifice in the First and Second World Wars, called the incident a “senseless act of destruction and disrespect”, Redland Bayside News wrote on Facebook.
She said council crews were making the site safe, and that larger pieces of stone would be retained for stonemasons to carry out restoration work.
The incidents is the latest in a series of attacks on war memorials, Anzac monuments and colonial statues around Australia.
Many have been carried out by far-left anti-Australian extremists, while scrap metal thieves have also targeted statues and plaques.
Header image: Left, the damaged cenotaph (Facebook). Right, the monument before it was destroyed (Anzac Square).
