No doubt more distressing details will emerge to fill in the gaps, but the fundamental fact is already painfully clear. Tamara Farrell - a much loved colleague, sister and daughter - is dead.

The 31-year-old bus driver, who had worked for Ballarat Coachlines for several years, and was described by those that knew her as an extraordinary, high spirited and funny person, had her life cut short with shocking brutality.

It is the second time the city has been rocked with the violent death of a young woman in just four months, after Dannyll Goodsell died in horrifying circumstances last October.

Police, councillors and campaigners were united in their shock and condemnation. While no-one wished to speculate on the case, there was a common theme: the campaign to stop violence against women must carry on with greater volume and purpose than ever.

"To me this really highlights the issues surrounding violence against women. It's really a message about treating each other with dignity and respect,” said Ballarat Police Superintendent Jenny Wilson at a press conference yesterday.  

"It's something that is a broader issue within our community that we keep talking about to keep the conversation going and that's the message we need to talk about here today."

Appearing alongside her, the deputy mayor Cr Jim Rinaldi, who knew the victim personally and was visibly upset, recalled her as a "warm, generous and extraordinary" person.

"She moved to Ballarat only two weeks ago from the Melbourne area. She was a person with a great spirit and a wonderful attitude and loved by her co-workers.

"We are a very friendly city and we want all people to be respected for who they are, whether they are male or female… We want to see none of this violence."

Marianne Hendron, the CEO at Women’s Health Grampians, described the news of the murder as “another death of a woman in horrific circumstances in a short space of time”.

“We’re also mindful of all the incidences that perhaps don’t make into the media where women are unsafe in their own homes in other situations,” she said.

“We’re trying to address the issues in our society and the culture that allows those sort of awful outcomes to occur.”

Councillor Belinda Coates, who is a consultant trainer for Women's Health Grampians, stressed that while progress had been made, the case highlighted how much more needed to be done.

Describing the death as “devastating and heartbreaking”, she said: “We know that it’s more than one woman a week killed violently most often by someone known to them, most often by a male.

“It just does really highlight that prevention of violence against women needs to be a national priority.

“It hurts everyone. There’s a ripple effect, an impact across whole communities. There are mental health impacts, perceptions of safety and economic impacts just to name a few.

“We’ve seen some changes starting to ripple out from the royal commission in Victoria, but it’s such a long journey to try and turn this around.

"We do really need the best evidence-based approaches and significant resourcing for something that is an enormous societal problem."

Ms Farrell was herself only too aware of the issue. Domestic violence, toxic masculinity - and grief over the violent deaths of woman such as Eurydice Dixon and Aiia Maasarwe in Melbourne - were themes she returned to again and again on her Facebook posts.

Vigils were held for both Ms Dixon and Ms Maasarwe, and while it may be too early for a similar event for Ms Farrell, several campaigners told The Courier they would welcome such an initiative if it had the blessing of the family.

“If there were [a vigil or campaign], we’d be really supportive," said Pennie Mathieson, strategic adviser for the family violence committee in the Central Highlands. "Regardless of the specific circumstances, we still need to be acknowledging that this shouldn’t have happened."

For Patty Kinnersly, the CEO of OurWatch, a group formed to drive nation-wide change in the behaviours that create violence against women, the issue is still a long way from being resolved. “Violence against women is a national crisis. Women and children in our community are at genuine risk and we need to act,” she wrote shortly after Ms Goodsell was murdered.

She made the point that when tragedies such as the murder of Melbourne comedian Ms Dixon or Cowes woman Samantha Fraser - and now Ms Farrell - strike a nerve with the public, “we see a huge spike in the national conversation around violence against women."

“But too often, and too quickly, this fades. This issue cannot be allowed to ‘fall’ out of the headlines, slipping from the news cycle and our minds.”

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