Geraldton HMAS Sydney Memorial II tour guide Jan Hardiman cleans Waiting Woman after discovering vandalism

The City of Greater Geraldton has praised a local tour guide who went out of her way to clean spray paint graffiti from the Waiting Woman statue at the HMAS Sydney II Memorial after she found it vandalised.

After a group of juveniles allegedly spray painted the bronze figure at the memorial on Saturday, March 25, HMAS Sydney II tour guide Jan Hardiman was quick to clean up the graffiti.

City CEO Ross McKim said it was disappointing to see the statue vandalised with pink spray paint and thanked Ms Hardiman for quickly noticing and taking action.

“The memorial is Western Australia’s premiere site for honouring the 645 men who lost their lives defending Australia in 1941, and is Greater Geraldton’s No. 1 tourist attraction,” he said.

“Fortunately, Ms Hardiman discovered the vandalism on Saturday and commenced removing the spray paint before we were able to get to it. We would like to extend our utmost thanks to Jan for her assistance and the police for their efforts to track down those involved.

“We encourage members of the community who spot vandalism to report it immediately to local police.”

Ms Hardiman said she was devastated to discover the graffiti and volunteered to clean it because the memorial meant a lot to her, having had a relative who was in both world wars.

“I managed to get quite a bit off on the Saturday night, and then I read up how to clean a bronze statue and I went and got some acetone and went up on Sunday to clean the rest it off,” she said.

“It’s one of my jobs as a tour guide to clean the lady every six months . . . I was talking to the sculptor one day and she told me what you needed to do to clean the lady, so I sort of took it under my wing to do that.

“I hope something does happen (to the culprits) so they realise what they’ve done, not just a slap on the wrist.”

Fremantle author Suzanne John who was visiting the memorial last weekend was amazed at Ms Hardiman’s dedication.

She said those responsible should feel ashamed and called for them to be educated about the nature of the site they tarnished.

“Maybe then they would understand that when they destroy a memorial, they dishonour the memory. They also dishonour themselves and their own families,” she said.

Geraldton Tour Guides volunteer and photographer Trevor Ralph said Ms Hardiman went out of her way to wax, clean and polish the statue on a regular basis to protect it from vandalism.

“Around the eyes there are a lot of wrinkles and Jan was cleaning that with cotton wool buds, she spent many hours cleaning it. I think it’s a tremendous effort,” he said.

“I can’t understand why people would go and paint something at a memorial of national significance that helped to keep Australia free, it’s just mind boggling.

“Our memorial is a very big tourist attraction, we estimate just over 60,000 people go up there and we would take around 20,000 people a year.”

Police have yet to make any arrests.