Vandals turned a popular Illawarra landmark into an eyesore by spraypainting obscene anti-Muslim graffiti.
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Visitors taking advantage of the warm weather on Monday to walk along the Sea Cliff Bridge were greeted by a series of vile phrases painted in purple spraypaint on the handrails.
People walking north along the bridge saw the first – “F..k Muslims!” – just before the first bend on the road.
The second was approximately two hundred metres further along and read “F..k Tourists!”
The last message, less than 50 metres further on, was “Go Home C..t”.
The graffiti showed no signs of being rushed, suggesting it had been carried out under the cover of darkness.
The messages were large enough that they were clearly legible to those driving along the bridge as well.
Scarborough resident Judy Whitlam was walking along the bridge on Monday morning, when she saw the graffiti.
She called the Mercury to voice her outrage.
“If you were a Muslim, and there’s lots of Muslims that walk there on holiday, to have a little bit of joy in their lives – to see that sort of thing, it’s just unacceptable,” she said.
“It’s UnAustralian.”
She also contacted Wollongong City Council to get them to take action and clean up the graffiti quickly.
However, the Sea Cliff Bridge is under the authority of Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
Less than 90 minutes after the Mercury contacted RMS about the graffiti, it had sent a crew to the bridge, who were spotted covering the graffiti in white paint.
“The offensive graffiti was covered up as soon as Roads and Maritime was made aware of it and maintenance crews will remove the graffiti this Wednesday,” an RMS spokesman said.
“Roads and Maritime Services carries out routine inspections of Sea Cliff Bridge where any defects identified, such as graffiti, are prioritised and scheduled for repair or removal.”
He said people can report graffiti through the RMS website contact form or by calling 131 782 during business hours.