Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate faces threats over removal of controversial statue of Captain John Hamilton

Hamilton's Mayor has been berated and threatened following the removal of a statue of British navy commander Captain John Hamilton.

Paula Southgate says she and her office staff have been on the receiving end of abusive phone calls and emails as the debate surrounding the city's colonial past intensifies.  

The statue of Capt Hamilton was carefully removed from Civic Square on June 12 after protesters threatened to knock it down. These threats came amid global outrage over systemic racism, following the death of US man George Floyd at the hands of police.

Southgate is now being targeted by furious locals, some of whom claim removing the statue is endangering the safety of white people, while others have called her a "spineless joke" and urged her to resign.

On one occasion she had to be escorted to her car after an angry mob arrived at the council offices demanding to see her, reports Stuff.

Southgate told Stuff the abuse makes her "a bit sad".

"I have a number of emails that have been extreme on the one side of the debate and extreme on the other. The most abusive ones, I tend to think well, you know, that's your problem."

The council will discuss what to do with the statue on Wednesday - but Southgate says if it is replaced, the backstory must be included "warts and all".

"We've got the opportunity to show that we can handle the situation, move forward constructively with compassion, and be part of a really awesome healing process that people will talk about well into the future."

Capt Hamilton died in the Battle of Gate Pa in Tauranga in 1864, commanding a colonial regiment in the fight against Māori.

"Captain Hamilton sprang upon the parapet, and shouting 'follow me, men!' dashed into the fight," the The Daily Southern Cross reported at the time.

"That moment was his last. He fell dead, pierced through the brain by a bullet."

The city we now know as Hamilton was founded later that year, the land having been confiscated by the colonists during the war and the Kirikiriroa pa abandoned.