A council in Western Australia has voted to keep a plaque dedicated to disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris – even though it was stolen last week and is unlikely to be replaced.
Councillors in the shire of Wyndham East-Kimberley, in the state’s far northeast, voted 5-4 on Tuesday night to retain the plaque, which thieves levered off its plinth at the Celebrity Tree Park in Kununurra at the weekend.
Shire president John Moulden said on Wednesday he voted to keep the plaque because people should learn from history no matter what happened.
“We don’t like history so we rewrite it, erase it and put something else in its place ... it’s a little bit reminiscent of (the novel) 1984,” Moulden said.
“I’m just a little bit uncomfortable being the arbiter of public morals.”
Moulden said the stolen plaque, which marks the place where Harris once planted a tree, would probably not be replaced because of ongoing vandalism at the park.
As well as the theft of Harris’s plaque, trees dedicated to former WA premier Brian Burke and former prime minister Julia Gillard have been damaged or uprooted several times.
“It’ll probably be a futile exercise (to replace the plaque),” Mr Moulden said.
“There seems to be an element in the community these days who feel they have a licence to act unilaterally.
“History will tell us if it’s been pinched once it’s likely to be pinched again.”
Since Harris was found guilty in June of indecently assaulting four girls in the UK between 1968 and 1986, organisations around the world have been quick to strip him of his honours.
It is the second time a plaque dedicated to Harris has been stolen in WA. A bicentennial footpath plaque laid by Harris in his home suburb was stolen the day after the Bassendean council voted to remove it.