Last week I was surprised to learn that there was an article in the Canberra Times about the tender (closing this Friday 20/6/24) to build a Memorial for victims of sexual abuse at the back of the service road to the museum.  It is supposed to have been chosen to allow victims or visitors to the memorial a “quiet contemplation” space.  I fully agree with Ericka Louvain’s article that most sexual abuse takes place in quiet locations and that a site for a memorial should not replicate the offence against victims of sexual assaults. (article by Marguerite Castello, Griffith).  The last thing any victim or for that matter, anyone who has spent years listening to victims of sexual abuse telling their stories need, is to be triggered when visiting this quiet location proposed to be the new site for the memorial.

Upon hearing of this proposed memorial, I went to the proposed site, and I conducted a brief survey by chatting to the very few people I met walking their dogs.  I was even fortunate to interview a man who said that he too was sexually abused but was unable to pursue the offenders as he was either not believed or else given the run around with trying to get justice. He said that he was thankful that his girlfriend has been able to support him through years of dealing with PTSD. Another old Canberran remembered that at one time there was a morgue at that site brings back memories of seeing dead bodies come and go out of the building as staff member. Another said it was a dump site for asbestos. Three factors came out clearly in this brief public consultation. 

• that the public has not been properly consulted,

• that the proposal to have a police museum nearby is also inappropriate.

• that VOCAL ACT Inc, the pioneer to victims’ services in Canberra since 1988, still in existence in its office at 1 Iluka Street since 1992, was not consulted at all.

Why, you ask, is it of poor taste to put the victim’s memorial near the site of a Police Museum or Memorial? Afterall is it not the police who help put criminals behind bars? Yes, the police do a good job!  However, how many victims of sexual abuse have been told by police that there is not enough evidence to pursue their allegation further?  Male victims appear to get a very raw deal when reporting sexual abuse.  Judging by the number of years that the victims of institutional sexual abuse had to endure with some resorting to drugs, alcohol and suicide attempts to numb the pain, Police as the first point of contact have not always been and still is not always helpful to victims of sexual abuse.   In fact, more often than not, from my 25 years of practice as a counsellor and social worker with victims of crime, clients say that they would not retraumatise themselves to try again to report the crime to police as the first report was not believed.

Coming away from the proposed site, looking at the seemingly peaceful site and the lake, my stomach churned as I remembered the victim of the Grosvenor murder whose body was found in the lake, and to this day no murderer has been caught.  I also vividly remembered the many victims describing the site of their rape as a quiet bush location or back road.  A national memorial for sexual assault victims needs to be in an open location close to bus and light rail services so that tourists can have easy access and so that victims and those who have worked with victims are not triggered when visiting that proposed quiet location.  Quiet locations for contemplation attract depressed people, angry people, sad people who instead of being built up by the experience that the government so kindly provided, end up costing more lives as a protest or final gesture.

Our Chief Minister is planning on relocating the civic swimming pool, perhaps in Commonwealth Park, and a memorial for Patrol Officers in Papua New Guinea to be sited in the Parliamentary Triangle.  If there is space enough to do this, why not save a small space for the National Memorial for victims of institutional sexual abuse which would also be for all other victims of sexual abuses who have never had a chance to have the crime perpetrated against them recognised.  Across the road from Commonwealth Park there are a lot of activities taking place reshaping the old car park, where it is a bright sunny space visible from the main road.  There is space also at the Carillion which is a well-used space by the public where it is not away from the public gaze.  It could also be somewhere at Kings Park.  Anywhere else but in bush land/roads.

The memorial need not be an elaborate construction or in a prominent site.  It simply needs to be a modest construction where victims can feel that their government acknowledges the pain and suffering involved in being sexually abused, whether this was finally put to rest at the Royal commission or whether it has never seen the light of day and lives in their heart and mind as the best safe place they can hide the hurt from public eye.  Their private grief is what remains hidden, or out of sight, and not the actual place where the memorial is situated. The memorial site can even be situated in the VOCAL House gardens. A place where the victim can have a quiet or silent “Me too moment”, even though they will never tell another soul about what happened to them.  It is a sight which says, ‘at last someone knows how I’ve suffered and may suffer still’.

I hope that those responsible for the final decision take the time to talk to some victims, or talk to those who have for 25 or more years, spent their time trying to help victims of sexual abuse in childhood or adulthood.  Victims of Crime Assistance League ACT INC (VOCAL ACT) has a wealth of experience to share, and we say that the current proposed site is one we cannot be proud of.  I can be contacted at 1 Ilula Street Narrabundah at VOCAL House (a place given to victims of crime in 1992 opened by Terry Conelly MLA).  I can also be contacted on our after-hours telephone support line 0439 95 9410.

Regards

Marie-noelle Cure BSWK

Service Coordinator