The RSL has condemned the destroying of the Australian flag after a Logan mural was last week found defaced.
The artwork of the Australian Flag, which has been at the entrance of the Logan Motorway underpass behind Kingston College for years, was last week found ripped to pieces.
Logan Village RSL welfare officer Garry Alteratlr, who has served in the military and reserves for a combined 43 years, says destroying the mural shows a gross level of disrespect.
“The Australian flag is something that many people have fought under, have served under and have tried to protect,” Mr Alteratlr said.
“Hundreds of thousands of people have died, many more injured, some still having the effects of wars from Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Solomon, and many still serve to this day.”
Mr Alteratlr said the mutilation of the mural was like “destroying the fabric of what Australia is”.
“This mural of this flag is worth something,” he said.
“It’s a symbol of freedom; it’s a symbol of who we are what we are.”
A Logan City Council Spokesperson said after a recent inspection of the Logan mural and its damage, council’s street art experts have deemed it “beyond repair”.
“A large section of the original paint had peeled off and graffiti and other painting underneath was exposed,” the spokesperson said.
Council has since applied a coat of paint, as the first step towards restoring public amenity, and will now work with the state government on any future plans for this space, which could include re-engaging the original artist.
It is unknown who damaged the Kingston mural.
The shredded Logan artwork comes after anti-monarchist protestors set the Australian Flag alight as part of a rally outside the British consulate in Brisbane on the day of mourning Queen Elizabeth II just last week.
Brisbane’s organised rally began at 11am, the same time the Prime Minister encouraged Australians to take part in a minute’s silence for the Queen.
Thousands more across the country hit the streets to decry past atrocities and the impact of British colonisation in Australia.
Footage and photographs posted online show some of the protesters set a newspaper alight before using it to burn an Australian and British flag.
Senator Lidia Thorpe, who is a First Nations woman attended a protest in Melbourne and addressed the crowd in front of a burned Australian Flag.
“British invasion started a war against First Nations people in this country,” Ms Thorpe wrote on Twitter on the same day.
“Deaths in custody, child removal and desecration of country are all symptoms of an ongoing war against us,” she said.
“The process towards being able to pick our own head of state would bring us all together – it would force us to tell the truth about our history and move us towards real action to right the wrongs that started with colonisation.”
