MEDIA RELEASE: MEMORIAL: For deaths in custody victim Collin Burling.
MEMORIAL: For Collin Burling. In memory of Collin who died at the hands of NSW police on 15 July 2025. Stand up together against police violence.
Media Release Tuesday 14 July 2026
WHAT: Memorial for Collin Burling: a community gathering for his grieving friends, and lover. All supporters are welcome.
WHEN: Wednesday 15 July, 10am
WHERE: Daniel Solander Tower, 180 Pitt Street Waterloo.
CONTACT: Rachel 0403 517 266 or Mark Gillespie 0487 375 221
On July 15, last year at the bottom of the Solander Housing Commission Tower in Waterloo in Inner Sydney, Collin Burling (aged 45) was assaulted and then restrained to death by police. He died while in police custody. Taite Collins (aged 44) witnessed and filmed his lover. It was a violent death that was unnecessary and avoidable.
A number of media outlets including Channel 9, the ABC and the Guardian carried news stories and video of the death with many comparing it to that of George Floyd some four years earlier at the hands of Milwaukie police in the USA.
Like George Floyd, Collin Burling cried out several times “stop I can’t breathe”. Video here:
After twelve months the people who loved Collin and his friends cry out in pain not in loss and grief alone but now in the torment of government bureaucracies and the criminal justice system. For this year, the government and police have denied justice to Collin Burling’s lover Taite and his family. One year on and they have attempted to absolve themselves of accountability and worse, seek to impugn blame on the victim.
After a year since the tragic death of Collin several key questions remain unanswered by authorities:
Who is accountable for the avoidable and unnecessary death of Collin Burling?
How can Taite, Collin’s surviving partner and Collin’s family and friends be assured that those responsible for this death in custody are held accountable in a court of law?
How can justice be served when the police and emergency response services - the ambulance and firefighters - are implicated in Collin’s vicious, cruel and unnecessary death?
Why is there near silence from the government and authorities about this death in custody?
How independent and transparent are NSW Police enquiries into misconduct, such as those by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission mentioned by Police Minister Yasmin Catley when asked about this case?
Does the public have recourse or access to the investigative workings, details and findings of these enquiries? Can these findings be challenged and if so, how?
Now almost exactly a year later at 10.00am on Wednesday 15 July, a community gathering will be held in memory of Collin Burling near the site of the death outside the Solander tower housing block. The address is 180 Pitt Street Waterloo.
Calls will be made for justice, accountability and restitution.
The media are invited to attend.
PLUS: A MEMORIAL RALLY: For Justice for Collin Burling and Jesse Deacon will take place on Saturday July 18, 1pm at Sydney Town Hall
Organized by Action for Public Housing, Taite Collins, Pride in Protest
For more information contact Rachel 0403 517 266 or Mark Gillespie 0487 375 221
