** Warning - content INCLUDES reference to sexual assault and sexual abuse**
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building the first australian memorial to acknowledge all survivors of sexual violence
Who is involved?
Members of the Ballarat community are working with the City of Ballarat to design the memorial. Over 50 survivors and supporters have been involved in projects that explored concepts of memorialisation, design and trauma. The resulting research from these artistic projects can be viewed here and will be used by our memorial designers to inform the final memorial design.
The project works in partnership with:
Partner Organisations
City of Ballarat
The Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA)
LOUD Fence Inc
Care Leavers Australasia Network
The Art Gallery of Ballarat
Beyond Empathy
Continuous Voices Community Reference Group
Katrina Bevelander
Erin Houlihan
Maureen Hatcher
Frank Golding
Blake Curran
Sarah Jane Hall
Trevor Coad
Maggie Schirmer
Rebecca Russell
What is Continuous Voices?
Continuous Voices is a project that connects trauma and creativity to stand for change and resistance against sexual assault and sexual abuse. The project acknowledges the courage of those who have stood for change and provides hope for these continuous voices to be heard. This work will create a public space in Ballarat to reflect. The shape of this space and memorial will be determined through creative collaborations with community.
Where will the memorial be?
The location for the public art memorial will be near the lake adjacent to Plane Avenue in Victoria Park, Ballarat. The Ballarat City Council voting unanimously to support the proposed site on 25 May 2022.
By placing the memorial in a tranquil setting, near water and enveloped in nature, the project will make a significant contribution toward the healing of those who have suffered. This area of Victoria Park is surrounded by bike paths, has an abundance of car parking and is walking distance to public transport. The location supports inclusive and accessible visitor access.
Why make a public site and memorial?
Currently 1 in 5 women and 1 in 20 men in Australia experience sexual violence. The impact of sexual assault and sexual abuse in Ballarat has drawn attention and resonates both nationally and internationally.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2012-2017) was established in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children in institutional contexts that had been emerging in Australia for many years. In it’s final report the Royal Commission recommended that “A national memorial should be commissioned by the Australian Government for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts. Victims and survivors should be consulted on the memorial design and it should be located in Canberra.” (Recommendation 17.6).
A public site and memorial to acknowledge all survivors, not just those impacted through institutional abuse, is seen as an important recognition of the immense impact of abuse and a small step towards positive change.
why in ballarat?
In Ballarat, a call for support from local government to work on a memorial project had a wide and strong support base in the community; the City of Ballarat have been in conversations with community members to support a program acknowledging the community impact of this issue for a number of years.
Council formally launched the Continuous Voices project on 11 April 2020 in Ballarat and supported five trauma-integrated arts programs to work with survivors to contribute to the memorial design concepts. This memorial will create a public space which will honour all voices which have been silenced while recognising Ballarat’s story and history with sexual abuse.
Why is the memorial acknowledging all survivors?
In March 2019, members of the Ballarat community together with representatives from the City of Ballarat formed the Continuous Voices Community Reference Group. The Group decided that a public site should be dedicated to acknowledging all survivors of sexual assault in the community and that this outcome would provide the most benefit to the community as a whole. This is a wider mandate than the royal commission recommendation. The statistics regarding the prevalence of sexual abuse and assault in Ballarat tell us that this project will be significant to many community members and has the potential to make a large impact in the city’s journey towards acknowledgment.