BRISBANE, Australia—Locals turned out in record numbers at Cleveland’s Remembrance Day commemoration on Nov. 11 following a spate of vandalism against war memorials in Queensland.
“This is the biggest turnout I’ve seen to Remembrance Day here in Cleveland for as long as I can remember,” said Queensland’s local state MP Amanda Stoker, in an interview on the sidelines of the event.
“The vandalism was appalling and so disrespectful and unacceptable in every way,” Stoker said the former federal senator, now the state minister for child safety.
“To see our community rally and stand for principles that go beyond the actions of any one vandal, and to say that that will not be what defines us as Redlanders or as Australians, I think is really encouraging.”
Cleveland’s Anzac Memorial Park, a large sandstone pillar belonging to a 106-year-old cenotaph was found shattered on the ground on Nov. 8.
Cleveland community lay wreathes to remember Australian servicemen and women, days after the cenotaph was vandalised east of Brisbane, Australia on Nov. 11, 2026. Jerry Zhu/The Epoch Times
Stoker also paid tribute to Australia’s veterans, thanking them for their service and sacrifices.
“I hope that you always feel honoured and respected in a community that values you very much,” said the Member for Oodgeroo, which covers the coastal Redland City Council region east of Brisbane.
3 War Memorials Damaged Across Queensland
In the lead up to the commemoration, three war memorial sites in the south-east of Queensland were heavily vandalised.
In Hervey Bay, video footage showed a man allegedly driving a vehicle into a flagpole at Freedom Park several times. He has since been charged and faced Hervey Bay Magistrates Court on Nov. 11, according to Queensland Police.
Separately in Bundaberg, an incident at the Moore Park Beach’s ANZAC Memorial Park left tyre marks and damage to memorial displays.
On Nov. 6, a 20-year-old Cleveland man presented himself to Gold Coast police station and has been charged with one count of wilful damage (cemeteries) for the Redland attack.
He is expected to appear before Cleveland Magistrates Court on Dec. 8.
The damaged 1920 Cleveland War Memorial in the Redlands, east of Brisbane, Australia. Courtesy of local resident Loraine Edwards
Police allege the man climbed onto the monument while intoxicated overnight between Nov. 7 and 8, causing it to break.
When asked whether the charge was sufficient, Stoker declined to comment on the appropriateness of existing penalties, but offered a message of hope.
“One thing that did encourage me was, he turned himself in,” she said.
“There is hope that the strong message our community has sent has moved something in the heart of a person that’s done the wrong thing.”
The UK, United States, Australian, New Zealand, and RSL flags on display at a Remembrance Day event in Cleveland to Brisbane's east in Australia on Nov. 22, 2026. Jerry Zhu/The Epoch Times
Calls for Stronger Federal Protections
Meanwhile, federal Member for Bowman Henry Pike has backed the Coalition’s proposal to make deliberate vandalism of war memorials a federal criminal offence.
In response to the Cleveland incident, he called the vandalism “heartbreaking and entirely senseless.”
The proposed Australian National Symbols and Heritage Protection Bill, announced in September, would introduce federal penalties for deliberately damaging, defacing, desecrating, or destroying war memorials and other significant historical monuments. It would also establish protections for the national flag and enshrine Jan. 26 as Australia Day in federal law.
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