The Hobart city council in Australia’s island state of Tasmania has suggested the statue of William Crowther in the city’s Franklin Square be removed, with plans for the partial removal and interpretation project costing $20,000 in total.
Crowther was a surgeon, a naturalist, and the first medical practitioner to serve as Tasmanian Premier. However, he was suspended from his role as an honorary medical officer in March 1869 after he removed the skull of Aboriginal Tasmanian man William Lanne and sent it to the Royal College of Surgeons in London.
According to a new council report, to be voted on Thursday, the council would spend $20,000 to remove the statue to storage and $50,000 on “interpretive elements onsite”….