Walcha is over an hour from Tamworth, but when Walcha’s three police officers knock off, that’s where the phone calls go to.
Women who have suffered sexual and domestic violence in Walcha have felt discouraged from reporting abuse at night because they feared Tamworth officers could not intervene quickly enough.
In part three of our New England Times investigation by Lisa Martin, we look at how sexual and domestic violence is hidden in our smaller centres by the lack of services.
Sexual abuse and family violence are flying under the radar in Walcha, a survivor says, citing limited police resources and a lack of support services in the town of 3000.
One survivor who wanted to be only known as Emma, to protect her privacy and safety, said she endured sexual assault, and domestic violence including emotional, verbal, psychological and financial abuse after dating a local man a few years ago.
At the height of the abuse, she felt discouraged from contacting the police at night because Walcha is not a 24/7 station.
The prospect of waiting at least an hour for Tamworth officers to arrive was not viable and could have endangered her life, she said.
“If I had called the police and he had heard or seen or looked at my phone as he always did… he probably would have killed me. It was extremely high risk,” Emma told the New England Times.
“I understand why women are scared to call the police in that situation because an hour is a long time, anything can happen in an hour.”
“It’s not as easy as just leaving, sometimes they physically stop you, sometimes they are shouting at you so much you are curled up in the corner.”
Police don’t see the problem
Walcha station comes under the Oxley police district and after-hours Tamworth police, 90 kilometres away, cover the town. Armidale, which is 64km away from Walcha, comes under the separate New England police district.
NSW Police played down concerns about the Walcha policing arrangements, insisting that the safety and wellbeing of the community was a priority for the force.
“Our message is clear – if it is an emergency, call 000. Officers from across the Oxley police district conduct regular taskings and patrols of the Walcha area,” a police spokeswoman said.
“Police within the Walcha sector are available for an on-call response whenever the need arises.”
The spokeswoman said a new mobile phone application called Empower You was designed to help domestic violence victims discreetly document abuse and provide them better access to support services.
Emma said her ordeal is not unique in Walcha and that she knows multiple women grappling with similar cases of sexual and domestic violence.
The final straw, which led to police reporting, came after Emma sustained major injuries requiring medical attention and she realised he was “capable of killing her”.
Up until that point, she had silently endured abuse for months and “didn’t tell a soul”.
Coercive control and financial abuse all hidden as it leads to physical violence
“Nobody knew what was happening. The reason for not telling anybody was a huge sense of shame, which I have come to understand most (survivors) feel,” she said.
“He isolated me completely from my family and friends – he would not let me contact anyone, and if I did, I had to have the phone on speaker, and he would be listening. He would go through my phone multiple times a day. How could I possibly tell anyone what was happening?”
She characterised the abusive relationship as “grooming” and said it also came with a heavy price financially – $15,000.
“It takes a lot of therapy to realise that it was not my fault. It was part of the manipulation.
“While it was me giving the money, if I didn’t, the backlash to that was quite severe in the forms of silent treatment, destruction of property, badgering, or keeping me up all night and berating me, which is actually a form of torture,” she said.
“As the relationship progressed it started to get physical with a push or shove and then the ‘love bombing’ would surround it. He would say ‘I’ll never do that to you again.’
“And then it led to punching and kicking. I had holes in my walls, and bruises on my body but conveniently they were all places that could not be easily seen.”
Small towns need support too
The national counselling hotline 1800RESPECT, support from Sora (formerly Tamworth Family Support Service) and 20 hours of free counselling from a psychologist funded through NSW Victims Services have helped Emma’s recovery after the perpetrator left her life. But she wishes there was more education and support available locally and offered discreetly.
“I’m an educated, privileged woman but I struggled to access support,” she said.
Walcha has a hospital with a 24/7 emergency department, and a GP clinic and the town has two psychologists, but one is about to retire and the other has a six-week waiting list.
Other sexual violence and domestic violence support services need to be sourced from either Armidale or Tamworth.
Women’s Shelter Armidale – provides outreach to Walcha, Uralla, Guyra – an area of 20,000 square kilometres.
Chief executive Penny Lamaro said her organisation has long wanted to set up a physical shelter at Walcha but the low numbers of reported cases have made it hard to attract funding from state and federal governments.
“Women won’t report domestic violence if there is no safety for them. If there are (limited) reports, you can’t get the resources there. It’s a stupid hamster wheel that we sit on,” Ms Lamaro said.
“We know the surrounding council areas are experiencing violence at a rate of over twice the state average, it simply doesn’t make sense that Walcha would be a nirvana of violence-free living right in the heart of the region.”
According to NSW crime statistics, Walcha has a rate of sexual assault 2.4 times the state average and a domestic violence rate of 1.4 times the state figures.
University of New England professor Rikki Jones said the social dynamics in small towns can be a factor in the reluctance of victims to make police reports.
“Rural communities are quite small. If you access a service for domestic violence or sexual violence people know, which means the perpetrator can eventually find out as well,” she said.
“Then you’ve got the social network around perpetrators as well. That can be negative towards the victim/survivor if they start to report.”
Ms Jones, who has focused on regional and rural family violence and sexual abuse trends, said her recent scoping study found not much had changed since 1996.
“There are still issues with people understanding consent. People not fully understanding what violence is,” she said.
Does someone have to die?
Women’s Shelter Armidale is about to start a fundraising drive to establish an office and 24/7 shelter in Walcha.
“I always fear that people have to die from violence before governments take adequate action,” Ms Lamaro said.
“The only way I see Walcha getting the resources it needs is by raising the money themselves.”
Walcha Shire Mayor Eric Noakes said domestic violence seemed to be hidden in the town.
“I honestly never hear of any domestic violence in Walcha,” he told New England Times.
He said the council was open to a women’s shelter for Walcha and land could be sourced.
“I certainly know the Council would give support to anything that would alleviate any problems from domestic violence,” he said.
To donate to the Armidale Women’s Shelter fundraising drive to set up a shelter in Walcha visit: https://www.womensshelterarmidale.org/donating or phone 1800 005 352.
This is part of an investigative series about domestic violence in the New England.
WHERE TO ACCESS SAFETY AND SUPPORT FOR FAMILY VIOLENCE
- Police – 000
- Empower You – NSW Police app for documenting abuse and accessing support
- Women’s Shelter Armidale – 1800 005 352
- Sora (Formerly Tamworth Family Support Services) – 1800 073 388
- Centacare New England – 1800 372 826
- Anglicare – 02 6701 8200
- Gunnedah Family Support – 02 6742 1515
- Allawah Cottage Gunnedah emergency accommodation – 02 6742 4193
- Armajun Aboriginal Health Service – 1800 276 258
- Aboriginal Legal Service NSW – Tamworth, Moree, Armidale 1800 765 767
- Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service – 1800 938 227
- NSW Domestic Violence Legal Advice Line – 1800 810 784
- Domestic Violence Line NSW 24/7 statewide crisis counselling and referral service – 1800 65 64 63
- NSW Victim Services counselling and financial support for victims of crime
- 1800RESPECT 24/7 national domestic, family and sexual violence counselling service
- Mensline 24/7 phone and online counselling for men – 1300 78 99 78
- eSafety Commissioner – online safety checklist if you’re experiencing tech-based domestic, family and sexual violence
- Kids Helpline 24/7 phone counselling with young people aged 5-25 – 1800 55 1800