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Sexual Assault is Not Our Lore Marianna Leishman attended this year’s Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Corroboree in Redfern. The Corroboree, held annually, acts as a platform to discuss sexual, family and domestic violence in the Indigenous community and attempts to break the shroud of silence that surrounds it. December 2006
Reclaim the Night, the international rally held every October, protests for women’s right to live free from fear of violence. The Corroboree provides a way of addressing the specific issues that face the Indigenous population and offers a vibrant and dynamic stance to demand an end to violence. The Corroboree was a festival of colour. Stalls featured red, black and yellow jelly beans, Torres Strait Island flags and coloured wristbands; kids played on a jumping castle and painted handprints on a craft banner that read ‘100 ways to stay safe’. Various community and government organisations held stalls, including the Rape Crisis Centre, the Anti-Discrimination Board, Legal Aid and the Redfern Legal Centre. It also featured many well-known Indigenous musicians who entertained and informed the crowd. Aboriginal female blues artist Marlene Cummings, laden with clap sticks and “deadly jokes”, launched the Corroboree by welcoming the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. To a lively audience Cummings talked of the importance of Redfern Park as a part of Aboriginal culture and tackling negative stereotypes. Many performers spoke out about their own experiences of abuse. Singer Nadine Dixon spoke and sung about being a survivor of sexual abuse, a single mum, and leaving domestic violence. Sexual abuse “is not a part of our culture,” proclaimed the lead singer of Mirror Child, a musical group of three generations of Koori women, “We indigenous women should get more together and lean on each other,” she said, her inspiring words interspersed with solo vocals and didgeridoo. “I always thought I was the only one that went through sexual assault and domestic violence, but we are not alone.” Addictions to drugs, alcohol and poker machines also found a theme in many of the local artists’ lyrics. Cummings sang tunes such as “Insufficient Funds”, about men only loving her till pension day. Declaring herself as “a blues woman” and with an album coming out in February, Cummings claimed that whether it be about the Stolen Generation or lifting self esteem, song could “bring about change” and send out a powerful message. The Coordinator of Wirringa Baiya, Christine Robinson thanked the Indigenous people who had travelled from far away, the men, children, non-Aboriginal people, the police and government organisations for their support in tackling sexual abuse. Robinson encouraged the sharing of knowledge, experiences and stories to create awareness and said the day should become a national day to speak out against violence together. Joyce Donovan, of the South Coast Walk Against Sexual Abuse also encouraged community Elders to speak out: “If we can’t speak about it, how are we going to do anything about it?” During the day Marcia Ella Duncan, the Chairperson of the Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce, detailed the findings of their report Breaking the Silence: Creating the Future. The Taskforce visited 29 communities, received written submissions from all over NSW and had individual consultations with over 300 people. Duncan revealed that child sexual assault emerged as the biggest issue confronting indigenous communities. Her concern was that while the problem is not news to Aboriginal people, the NSW government is not hearing their message. “We all know that the incidence of child sexual assault is far, far worse than is currently being reported,” she said. Duncan told of the continuing and devastating effect of sexual violence on generations. “The hurt and pain doesn’t stop when the abuse stops,” she said. “It affects our children and our grandchildren.” Many of the speakers said that sexual violence and other social, economic and political factors in Indigenous communities cannot be seen as separate issues. “We are dealing with the end result of an ongoing social dislocation in indigenous community… violence against women is just one of the results of this dislocation,” said Councillor Marcelle Hoff in her address.
Heroines of Fortitude, astudy conducted by the Department for Women in 1996, revealed that Aboriginal women were ten times more likely to be complainants of sexual assault than non-Aboriginal women. In this context, the Corroboree acts to fill a void in the community by openly talking about experiences of sexual violence. The notoriously low conviction rates for sexual assault and a number of other factors mean that the majority of sexual assaults go unreported. The possibility of social ostracisation, isolation, loss of kinship networks, feelings of guilt relating to seeing a relative go to prison, economic dependence, fear of retribution, a high chance of not being believed by police and courts, and psychological injuries such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder all contribute to this culture of silence. Add to that, a legal system stacked against the victim and the often aggressive nature of cross-examination, an environment conducive to victims and survivors speaking out against violence is hardly reality. The Women’s Safety Survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1996 found that less than 15 percent of rapes are reported to police, and research has revealed cases where Aboriginal women report sexual assault and are subsequently arrested on an outstanding and unconnected warrant such as drinking in a public place. The Heroines of Fortitude study found that Aboriginal women experienced greater distress and difficulty in having their story heard and believed in court. Yatunkga Gordon, of Mudgin Gal Women and Children’s Centre, spoke at the Corroboree about her experiences living in a close-knit community in the Redfern/Waterloo area and seeing sexual violence remain unresolved and unacknowledged. “It has affected people I know and love” who have turned to alcohol, drugs, and been unable to live a fulfilling life, she said. Recent sensationalist media coverage has pittted ‘blackfella law’ against ‘white law’, a representation the theme ‘Sexual Assault is Not Our Lore’ tried to address. “Our lore is to be nurturers of our children,” said Joyce Donovan. Federal Member for Sydney and the Shadow Minister for Childcare, Youth and Women, Tanya Plibersek said that many issues that contribute to family dysfunction and sexual, family and domestic violence- such as poverty, lack of access to legal services and medical attention, lack of policing in rural areas, and overcrowded boarding houses- go ignored by the government because of the assumption that sexual abuse is part of Indigenous culture. An important consideration that emerged during the Corroboree was the availability of resources to assist indigenous men in overcoming trends of abuse. Both Christine Robinson and Dixie Link Gordon (Convenor of the Blackout Violence Campaign) noted that the implications of family violence affect men too. Commenting on the lack of support services, they said, “There are not enough for women, and there are definitely not enough for men.” “Our children still need their dads… let’s do something for our children, mums and dads. They all deserve a chance,” said a passionate community member, Bowie Hickey. A certain police presence was welcomed at the Corroboree, despite an extensive history of hostile relations, culminating in the Redfern Riots in 2004, and the obstacles Indigenous women face in being able to freely report sexual assault to police and other authorities. However at the Corroboree the Commander of the Redfern Local Area Command Catherine Burn thanked the Indigenous community for inviting the police and spoke about moving forward together to tackle and prioritise the issue of family violence. “We want to be responsive to your needs and have a focus on victims,” said Burn, urging the community to have confidence in and get to know the local police. Despite the many difficulties, obstacles and problems facing the indigenous community the Corroboree provided a platform for women to take arms, challenge the acceptance of violence and celebrate survival together. Wirringa Baiya is a community state-wide legal centre that provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, children and youth who are victims of violence with access to culturally sensitive and appropriate legal representation, advice and referral. It deals primarily with cases concerning domestic violence, sexual assault and child sexual assault. The Centre acts for clients in Victims Compensation applications, is involved in Community Legal Education projects such as Blackout Violence, and produces fact-sheets on areas such as discrimination and drink-spiking. |
Redfern Park was alive in the lead up to October’s Reclaim the Night. Crowds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children came together to break the silence surrounding sexual abuse and family violence in Indigenous communities. This year’s Corroboree, held to coincide with Reclaim the Night, by the Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre, was called ‘Sexual Assault: It’s not our Lore’ and featured speakers, traditional dance, live music, and face painting. 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women often face quite distinct and unique issues that aren’t adequately addressed with a western approach. The 1997 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s Bringing Them Home report indicated that one in every six of the Stolen Generation children were victim/survivors of sexual abuse.