AUSTRALIA
ABC Ballarat
By Margaret Burin
Ballarat locals have decorated a Catholic school fence with colourful ribbons, a campaign called Loud Fence, aimed at showing support for child abuse victims who were silenced.
After days of horrific evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, community members have begun tying bright ribbons onto the fence of the former St Alipius Boy’s School where some of the abuse took place.
One of the organisers, Maureen Hatcher, says it is the community’s way of letting survivors know that Ballarat is behind them.
“The idea is that it’s a loud fence and that’s because there’s just been too much silence,” she said.
“That’s been the crux of this whole disaster, that children weren’t listened to and they just weren’t supported, so it’s time to support them now and give them a voice.”
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