Art tribute to wharf 'thugs' to be removed today

The controversial art work on the waterfront has been covered up. Photo / Greg Bowker

A controversial image of a strike-breaker will be removed from a waterfront history panel and replaced with a wharfie.

Waterfront Auckland chairman Sir Bob Harvey said the panel had been removed and would be returned with the strike-breaker and references to him removed.

He said the story of the 1913 waterfront strike needed to be told, but the "wrong character'' had been chosen.

The panel on Queens Wharf, one of 10 on the waterfront depicting the area's history, drew complaints from Auckland councillor Mike Lee, who said it paid homage to "thugs and bashers''.

It features a silhouette of baton-wielding strike-breaker Jim Ross. Some of his comments from a 1913 newspaper article also appear, along with the tag line: "Who loves a scrap?''

Sir Bob said that line "trivialised what was a terrible event''.

Those words would be removed and the image of the strike-breaker replaced with a wharfie. Researchers were now looking for historic images of wharf workers from the era.

"Jim the strike-breaker depicted in the metal cut-out has gone and will never be seen again,'' he said.

He said Jim Ross was a real person who had acted for reasons he believed in, ``but it just seems to us that we probably got the wrong character.''

The panel was removed this morning for the work to take place, and Sir Bob said it would be immediately returned without the strikebreaker.

A wharfie image would be added at a later time.

The artwork is part of a display telling the history of the waterfront.