A community will stand in solidarity against male violence after three local women were allegedly killed by men.
Women in a Victorian community rocked by three recent killings are demanding an end to male violence.
The Ballarat region’s Samantha Murphy, Rebecca Young and Hannah McGuire have allegedly died at the hands of men since the beginning of February.
A rally will begin at Ballarat train station on Friday before gathering at nearby Camp Street, where family members of the victims, community leaders and family violence specialists will address the gathering.
Organiser Sissy Austin, who was herself savagely attacked while on a run in 2023, said the issue was a national crisis.
“Us Ballarat women, we’re coming together to stand in solidarity, to feel less alone and to show the country we’re united,” she told AAP.
“We’re here to fight for our rights to live safely in our community for generations to come.
“The Ballarat community aren’t going to succumb to the violence that has been perpetrated in our town.”
One in four Australian women and roughly one in 14 men have been subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner since age 15, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, women who temporarily separate from abusive partners often face continued or increased violence.
Austin said the three killings in a little over two months had stunned the community.
“Women are living on eggshells,” she said.
“No one feels like they can safely go on a bushwalk around the beautiful bushlands that surround Ballarat.”
A search for Murphy’s body at Enfield State Park on Thursday was unsuccessful but a scaled-back search continued on Friday.
Womens Health Grampians chief executive Marianne Hendron announced a partnership with local council to drive community education.
Austin said the issue was a national crisis that needed to be called out.
“The most immediate thing we need to do, particularly as women, is unite and show men who choose to use violence in our community that we stand against it,” she said on Wednesday.
“Enough is enough.”
