“It was split, it was a really toxic environment,” he said.

“You didn’t know whether you could walk out, go down the street, because you’d be looked at, stared at.

“Human emotion, the initial thing is to pull back and hide away and say, ‘no, it can’t have happened’, but it proved to be way beyond what anybody thought.”

But Mr Sculley said as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse progressed, people in Ballarat began to realise the severity, impact and depth of what had happened.

Perceptions changed and community support built momentum.

The Loud Fence movement is one of the most symbolic displays of the transition towards a community that stood for ‘no more silence’. 

The simple act of tying a ribbon onto a public fence became a powerful link between the community and survivors with its message of hope and healing.

Loud Fence founder Maureen Hatcher said the ribbons, which first appeared at the front of Ballarat schools St Alipius and St Patrick’s College, were initially an act of desperation.

“We needed a way to let these guys know we supported them and how else could we do it?” she said. 

“There was no platform for us, so to be able to do something visually and bright that just stood out was the way to go.”

The movement soon spread across the world.

“I didn’t think it would go past St Alipius’ fence, but it is a grassroots community initiative, that’s why it has worked,” Ms Hatcher said. 

“And that’s why I think it will continue to last.

“People will always have these feelings... and there are so many more stories out there that we haven’t heard.”

Clergy abuse survivor Tony Wardley said the Ballarat community was no longer shying away from the harrowing stories of abuse. 

“The support, well, it’s visual with the ribbons,” he said. “The community is supporting survivors, that’s the big change. People are talking and people are getting help.”

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But Ms Hatcher believed an opportunity had been lost when she stepped back from Loud Fence in May. 

She had initially hoped organisations, schools and the church would join together to continue public support initiatives and even form a committee. 

“I thought Ballarat could really be the pillar of something new… and it just hasn’t quite happened,” Ms Hatcher said.

“There are different places putting up permanent monuments, but I would have liked to have seen more. 

“I would have really liked to have seen Ballarat become the loud place and shown other cities and other towns what could be done in supporting survivors.”

Ms Hatcher said carrying the message of ‘no more silence’ into the future would be important because real change took time. 

City of Ballarat councillor Belinda Coates said while it had been a very long process of people coming forward about sexual abuse, the royal commission had heightened community awareness. 

“It has been very difficult but really important because throughout history we’ve probably never in Australia seen such an increase in community understanding of the long-term impact and harm that is caused by child sexual abuse,” she said.

Cr Coates also noticed the shift in community acceptance and support as the inquiry progressed. 

“In the early days I think it probably was quite difficult for community members to accept the enormity of the situation and the broad impact of how many people were affected,” she said.

“But it did really build with all the momentum and media focus on the royal commission.”

This momentum reached a peak in the lead up to sending a group of Ballarat survivors and support people to Rome in 2016. 

A GoFundMe page raised $200,000 to help cover travel costs so the survivors could face Cardinal George Pell as he gave evidence to the royal commission via video link. 

The trip made international media, showing the human faces of child sexual abuse to the world. 

Support was also evident back in Ballarat, with a special gathering arranged outside the Town Hall on the third day of Cardinal Pell’s evidence.

White and red balloons were released in a display filled with raw emotion.

“For me, it was just that real turning around of people looking away from what happened to actually acknowledging the courage in shining a light on it,” Cr Coates said. 

“People turned that sense of Ballarat being ashamed of what happened into actually being quite proud of the survivors because it took a look of courage to come forward and speak out.

“Things like the Loud Fence movement and the survivors going to Rome really gave people a lot of hope in that there will be some justice, there will be some redress and protection of children into the future.”

Cr Coates hoped this support would continue.

“It is really important we don’t forget our dark history, that our records and stories are preserved and that the history is kept and acknowledged,” she said.

“It really is only by fully acknowledging the past that we can move forward.”

To contact CASA, located on the corner of Vale and Edwards streets, Sebastopol, call 5320 3933 or free call 24 hours 1800 806 292. Lifeline can be accessed on 13 11 14.