An hourslong standoff with police ended early Tuesday with the peaceful surrender of a man who scaled a 140-foot concrete tower on the Bolte Bridge in the Australian city of Melbourne to paint a massive cartoon bird.
The police accused the man, 22, of abseiling down the side of the tower and spray-painting the pylon. He refused to descend for hours while he broadcast the stunt on social media and mocked Australian authorities.
He was arrested and later charged with multiple offenses, including burglary and criminal damage, according to a Victoria Police statement.
The authorities did not name the suspect. The graffiti resembled the “Pam the Bird” symbol which has appeared across trains, buildings and heritage landmarks throughout Melbourne over the past few years.
As the incident unfolded overnight, an Instagram account with the handle of @pambirdofficial shared videos that appeared to have been filmed by a person at the top of the tower. .
In one of the videos, a voice was heard saying they were “not coming down until they lower the taxes.” The footage appeared to show a seated person’s legs dangling over the edge of the tower, overlooking the river below as police cars gathered at its base. The person did not explain what taxes were being referred to.
The person in the video also requested that a drone be used to airlift a blanket, a glass of milk, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to the high-altitude perch. In another video, filmed in daytime, the person zeroed in on a hovering drone hovering and complained that the sandwich was never delivered.
It is unclear how the man was able to gain access to, or climb up the tower.
The large cartoon, nicknamed “Pam the Bird” by its creator, first appeared across the city in 2023, turning up on highway signs and major landmarks like a century-old railway station clock tower. The graffiti tag gained a following through its visibility around the city, as well as an Instagram page that shared behind-the-scenes footage of the illicit paintings.
But not everyone is a fan of the bird.
Last year, Nicholas Reece, the lord mayor of Melbourne, vowed to crack down on graffiti vandals in the city.
“If you spray, you will pay,” he said in an interview to a local radio station, adding that “we’ve seen Pam the Bird having his wings clipped last week,” referring to the arrest of a man named Jack Gibson-Burrell at the end of January 2025 in connection with the bird graffiti. Mr. Gibson-Burrell was later released under some restrictions.
According to a police statement, the man arrested this morning — identified only by his age and as a resident of East Geelong, a suburb southwest of Melbourne — is to be held in custody until September 29.
