Fitzroy Valley comes together for Us Without Abuse Community Day

Women, men, children, young people and families came together in Fitzroy Crossing for a fantastic Us Without Abuse Community Day, standing together with a simple message: our families and communities are stronger without violence.

The day began with a community March Against Family and Domestic Violence, with people walking together through Fitzroy Crossing before gathering at the Oval for a day of activities, music, food, sport and family fun.

It was wonderful to see so many different parts of our community represented.

Children made signs and joined activities, families spent time together, local services shared information and support, and importantly, men and women stood alongside one another to say that preventing family and domestic violence is something our whole community has a role in.

That is an important part of the Us Without Abuse message.

Reducing family and domestic violence cannot be the responsibility of women or specialist services alone. Lasting change comes from communities working together — supporting healthy and respectful relationships, having conversations about violence, challenging harmful behaviour and making it clear that women and children have the right to be safe.

The day was also a reminder that this work can bring people together in a positive way. Alongside the serious message were plenty of smiles, conversations, children playing, music, food and opportunities for people to connect.

MWRC extends a huge thank you to Gurama Yani U – Fitzroy Valley Men’s Shed, who helped lead the community march, as well as Nindilingarri Cultural Health Services, the Shire of Derby/West Kimberley, Kimberley Community Legal Services and Fitzroy Valley District High School.

We also thank the many other local organisations, services, community members and supporters who contributed their time, resources and energy to the day.

A special acknowledgement goes to the staff and volunteers from across Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre and Kimberley Community Legal Services who worked so hard behind the scenes. Community events like this take an enormous amount of planning, preparation and teamwork, and the success of the day belongs to everyone who helped make it happen.

Most importantly, thank you to everyone from the Fitzroy Valley who turned up, walked with us, brought their families, joined the activities and helped create such a positive day.

Us Without Abuse is about all of us.

When women, men, children, families, Elders, young people and organisations stand together, we send a powerful message about the kind of community we want: one where people are respected, families are strong and women and children are safe.

Thank you, Fitzroy Valley, for standing together.

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