It was impossible not to be moved by Friday night's march through the city.

An estimated thousand people turned out to remember the lives of three women who will forever remain etched in Ballarat's tragic history.

Samantha Murphy. Rebecca Young. Hannah McGuire.

My husband and I took our young daughters along to the march. We felt it was an opportunity to show our girls that women and girls have a right to feel safe.

What was positive to see was the number of men with their partners, and other families with their children who joined.

Men who recognise that they are part of the solution to making women feel safe.

And children who can see that their families value women's safety as important. This is absolutely crucial if we want any hope of improving outcomes for women in the next generation.

If anything, Friday's march has sparked conversations and calls to action.

Yesterday, the Clunes and Waubra football netball clubs united to call for their communities to step up and make a change.

Hannah McGuire was meant to wear her black and white uniform this weekend, playing in the A grade for Clunes Netball Club.

But instead, the club was left to carry out her legacy - vowing to take a stand against domestic violence, which took her life more than a week ago.

"Let's go away from this and make a change ourselves," Waubra Football Netball Club president Simon Tol said.

"We can all make a difference. We can all call that type of behaviour out. Look at the people standing, everyone behind each other here, so lets go as a community and really make a difference. If you get an opportunity to call any bad behaviour out, do that.

"Look at all the arms in arms. We are not going to tolerate violence against women."

It's this call to action that The Courier hopes to see echoed around sporting clubs, workplaces and organisations in our region.

What our readers had to say:

Ballarat has a shameful history of violence and sexual abuse against women and children. It's great to see people stand up and say enough. I'm at a loss to know what we can do. Education and support are important, but how do we stop this? Nothing so far has worked. One death is too much.

- Andrew Collins

My condolences to the families, and I'm thankful and proud for the love of our community.

Just a thought - would a permanent remembrance/reminder of the cause, eternal flame large candle (or similar) be something worth considering by council? It could be located in the center garden between Sturt Street somewhere and remind us all permanently (somewhere highly visible). This could be a place of healing, education, public gatherings also.

Perhaps a large candle symbolic of our city's stand against this issue could be a powerful catalyst for cultural change?

- J C

Great work. Let's follow through with mountains more support for our schools who are hopelessly beleaguered under the weight of the challenges of bringing these young people up. More teachers, more counselors and more engagement with the broader community.

- Patrick Hockey

What do you think are possible solutions our community needs to explore? What else do you want to know about this issue? Reply to this email and share your thoughts?

Until next week,

Emily Sweet

- Acting managing editor