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It is a bird, it is allegedly a pain, and Victoria police now say they have charged the man they believe is behind a series of “Pam” graffiti that has appeared on some of Melbourne’s most prominent landmarks.
A 21-year-old man from Yarraville was arrested on Thursday, police said in a statement on Friday morning. He faces more than 50 charges including criminal damage, burglary, shop theft and theft of a motor vehicle.
“In one of the most high-profile incidents, it’s alleged the man scaled and defaced the heritage listed Flinders Street railway station clock tower on 10 July 2024,” police said.
“It’s alleged he is also responsible for graffiti plastered across the rail network as well as the ‘Cheese Stick’ column on CityLink, a television station building in Docklands and concrete silos on Mercer Street in Geelong.
“In the latest incident graffiti was on 20 January 2025 daubed across a hotel in South Wharf.”
Police alleged the graffiti has caused more than $100,000 in damage in total.
“The man has also been charged over an incident in Footscray where an allegedly stolen car was driven through the front window of a Barkly Street restaurant early on 20 December 2024,” police said.
Police alleged they had also seized spray paint, illegal fireworks, abseiling equipment and property suspected to be the proceeds of crime.
The man has been remanded to appear at Melbourne magistrates court on Friday.
The underground graffiti movement has thrived for decades across the globe, and Melbourne is regarded as one of its most significant cities.
Within this movement, the ability to paint quickly and skilfully without being caught – despite the risks posed by moving trains and increasingly motivated law enforcement – is highly valued, one artist told Guardian Australia this week.
Dean Sunshine, who has spent years documenting and curating street art in Melbourne, summed up the fascination behind Pam the Bird as “location, location, location”.
“It’s the most prolific thing in Melbourne right now … it gets a lot of respect from the graffiti world because of the amount of artwork that’s going up and the positions of the artwork,” he said.
“It’s the positions … and getting to spots that are really hard to get to. That’s what’s making Pam the Bird such a legendary part of Melbourne graffiti culture.”
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Melbourne has long grappled with the city’s relationship with graffiti and street art, with the debate often becoming more prominent during city council elections.
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Days after being sworn into the role, Melbourne’s lord mayor, Nicholas Reece, criticised the graffiti that appeared on Flinders Street station and then centred his re-election campaign on cleanliness and safety.
He pledged to implement a new policy that would require a victim impact statement from the City of Melbourne to be read when a person pleaded or was found guilty of damaging council property with graffiti.
Reece this week said he did not have a timeline for the implantation of the proposal but stressed it was a priority.
“This is not street art. This is out and out vandalism, and it needs to stop,” he said. “This is not a victimless crime. The city’s pride and reputation is being affected.”
He pointed to Melbourne’s designated legal spaces for street art, most notably famed Hosier Lane, which also features government-commissioned murals and artwork spruiking brands.
“Pam the bird, could go quite some way improving the quality of the art, and we’re here to help on that front. We can give artistic guidance,” he said.
But a veteran graffitist told Guardian Australia that it was frustrating that governments openly welcomed places like Hosier Lane, but cracked down on graffiti. It was the same as a government saying it loved AFL but hated community Australian rules teams – it was impossible for there to be one without the other.
The Victorian opposition leader, Brad Battin, this month unveiled a proposal to require the Department of Transport and Planning to remove graffiti from public freeways within 24 hours.
Police have also arrested a 39-year-old man from Abbotsford as part of the investigation.
He has been charged with more than 20 criminal damage offences relating to the alleged graffiti of suburban trains and the Docklands office building, and was also due to appear in court today.
