Oxenham OAM, Ms H. – Motion
Wednesday 30 October 2024
S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (11:40): I rise to support this important motion. I would like to pay my respects to Helen Oxenham OAM and offer condolences to her family and the many others who loved her, including many of my colleagues. I would also like to acknowledge her daughter Heather. It was always so beautiful to see the two of you together. Your love and your strength shone through, and I offer you my deepest sympathies.
I would like to thank my good friend the member for Reynell for moving this motion for this strong, visionary and determined woman. Helen Oxenham's contribution to South Australia, particularly women and predominantly those escaping violence, is unmatched. Helen, together with other incredible women, worked to establish and sustain one of the first women's shelters in our state at Christies Beach. We know the crucial work that women's shelters and domestic and family violence services play in our state, and we can trace so much of this back to the work of Helen.
Born in Cork, Ireland, Helen was the second eldest of six, growing up in corporation housing in Dublin, where she and her family were subjected to horrific domestic violence by her father. Helen married a much gentler man and they emigrated to Australia in the late fifties. Over the next decade, Helen met a range of people who had intimate experience with domestic violence, and this sparked a fire in her to help. Helen, being the pioneer she was, cleared out a room in the back of her shop, broke down a window and made it a door. This building became the first drop-in centre for women seeking refuge.
The local community rallied around the six women, including Helen, who wanted a safe place, safe from men, and in 1977 the first women's shelter was opened. Helen's shelter was followed by women's shelters in Elizabeth, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Port Augusta and Whyalla. Helen spent decades raising money to offer a safe haven to hundreds of women and children in South Australia. She was an incredible advocate and dedicated her life to supporting women and children experiencing family and domestic violence.
Helen also founded Spirit of Woman, a not-for-profit organisation seeking to change the discourse on domestic and family violence by creating The Place of Courage. These spaces are designed to be a place for grieving, a place of healing and a place for moving forward. They are a strategy to reduce the long-term impact of domestic and family violence on individuals and help prevent its occurrence in the community. Spirit of Woman describes The Place of Courage as a revolutionary and inclusive space which is a powerful public reminder and acknowledgement of the horrific damage caused by domestic and family violence in our communities.
I would like to finish by commending Helen's daughter, Heather, for continuing this work. I encourage all members of this place and in our community to also continue Helen's work, remembering and honouring those lost to domestic and family violence while generating awareness and enabling crucial conversations about the role we can all play to help eradicate this. We must end domestic, family and sexual violence, and while we are achieving that, we must also all support those who survive along the way. Vale Helen.
