Thursday,
17 July 2025
Alleged Paradise Falls vandals arrested

POLICE have arrested two men from the Melbourne area who will be charged with the vandalism of the rockface of Cheshunt's Paradise Falls in May this year.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said a 24-year-old Rosebud man and a 25-year-old Hastings man were arrested by officers on Wednesday.

Whitfield police charged the 24-year-old with criminal damage as well as charges against the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 for damaging the culturally significant site, after he was located in Melbourne’s CBD.

He was bailed to appear before the Wangaratta Magistrates' Court on 29 September.

Detectives from Mornington searched the second man’s address in Hastings and he will be charged at a later date with the same offences.

Cheshunt's Paradise Falls waterfall, which has cultural significance to the Aboriginal community, was located vandalised by Parks Victoria officers on 12 May this year.

The rockface of the popular tourism destination, at the base of the 31-metre waterfall, had been tagged with large scale graffiti approximately 10 metres wide and two metres high.

The Victoria Police spokesperson said specialist graffiti analysts from the Transit Divisional Response Unit assisted with the investigation.