Get ready to crank up the volume in Ballarat this Saturday.
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Survivors, family, friends and supporters in the wider Ballarat community will gather outside St Patrick’s Cathedral at 1pm on February 23 with one goal: to make as much noise as possible in solidarity with victims of abuse in Glasgow, Scotland and around the world.
It is part of a series of global demonstrations taking place on the same day.
It was started by Scottish child abuse survivor and campaigner Dave Sharp, who organised an event at St Andrews Cathedral in Glasgow to coincide with the Vatican summit on child sexual abuse.
He approached Loud Fence in Ballarat asking for support as well as other organisations in Ireland, Canada, the USA, Denmark, Sweden and England.
We’re letting the world know that we’re still here, we haven’t forgotten, we’re still believing these survivors and we’re still remembering those that haven’t been able to survive due to child sexual abuse
- Maureen Hatcher, Loud Fence founder
While many of the gatherings will hold a minute’s silence, organisers in Ballarat have opted for a minute’s noise.
“We will be doing the noise because there has been too much silence,” said Loud Fence founder Maureen Hatcher. “We don’t want to be about silence because there has been too much silence all along."
Organisers are asking for people to bring whistles and drums to help raise the decibel level. There will also be a bagpipe player, and people are asked to bring tartan ribbons to tie afterwards in solidarity with campaigners in Scotland.
Ms Hatcher says the campaigners in the UK look to Australia: “They believe that Ballarat is ahead of them. We’ve had a Royal Commission, we’ve been heard, all of those things, whereas they feel they haven’t been listened to at this stage.
“We want to support them.”
“We’re letting the world know that we’re still here, we haven’t forgotten, we’re still believing these survivors and we’re still remembering those that haven’t been able to survive due to child sexual abuse.”
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