An eight-hour police stand-off on the Bolte Bridge in Victoria’s Docklands ended on Tuesday morning with the arrest of alleged Pam the Bird graffiti figure Jack Gibson-Burrell.
Gibson-Burrell, 22, was seen about 11am walking toward police with his hands in the air on the banks of the Yarra River in Victoria’s Docklands. Police allege he had climbed one of the giant concrete pillars beside the bridge at about 3am, dressed all in black, and spray-painted a huge Pam the Bird tag.
According to police, he then ignored directions to come down. As officers tried to resolve the situation, regular updates were posted to an Instagram account carrying the biography “#notcomingdown”. The account now has 23,000 followers.
During the stand-off, Gibson-Burrell said he would not come down unless taxes were cut, though he did not say which taxes. He later added a peanut butter and jam sandwich to his demands.
In a post uploaded shortly after 9am, he appeared in a balaclava marked with a yellow flower-like symbol and said he was still “patiently” waiting for the sandwich, while holding a phone in one hand and making a peace sign with the other.
A video posted around 10.30am showed him dancing with his hands on his knees. Earlier clips appeared to place him on the eastern concrete tower of the bridge, high above emergency vehicles and the roadway below. In another, he sat on the pillar, cheerfully swinging his feet, while Lesley Gore’s Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows played over the footage.
He also wrote, “Might have a quick nap” and “Wouldn’t mind a blankey, it’s kind of cold”.
Gibson-Burrell is already on bail after pleading not guilty to more than 200 charges alleging he caused $700,000 worth of damage through vandalism across Melbourne. His grandmother posted a $30,000 surety to secure his release, and that money is now at risk of being forfeited following the alleged Bolte Bridge incident.
His bail conditions required him to live with her in Geelong, obey a nightly curfew and not have abseiling gear or graffiti-related items in his possession. No trial date has been set.
Authorities shut one inbound lane on the Bolte Bridge while negotiators tried to get him down. Acting Inspector Darren Wallis said the man had entered the base of the tower and used internal ladders to climb it.
“It was a particularly precarious situation, quite dangerous to the accused person, as well as to police, and it was difficult for us to negotiate that safe conclusion, but we got there,” he said.
Wallis said police could not communicate with Gibson-Burrell at any point while he was on the pillar. Officers were also concerned that drivers on the bridge were stopping to watch the spectacle overhead.
“There will be increased patrols and more police around the area, absolutely,” he said. “It’s a really dangerous environment for anyone to operate in, so we would really be encouraging people not to even think about that, so not just for the offender, but for the police as well.”
He said the operation required a major police response and that taxpayers would eventually bear the cost of removing the graffiti. It is understood the clean-up bill could reach tens of thousands of dollars. How long removal will take is not yet known, though it will likely require another lane closure.
The bridge is part of the CityLink toll road owned and operated by Transurban. In 2024, the company removed similar graffiti from the “cheese stick” sculpture farther north along the same freeway.
Tuesday morning temperatures fell to 4 degrees, with fog covering the tops of the bridge’s 140-metre concrete pillars.
