Community
20 March, 2026
Honouring women and raising awareness
CAMPERDOWN’S main street hosted a special walk and memorial ceremony last Friday as part of a special International Women’s Day event.
Around 50 women attended the event, either participating in the memorial walk from Excuse Me Katie’s to the Camperdown Clocktower or attending an information session hosted at the café.
Organiser Zoe Wilkinson said the event was emotional, but she was uplifted to see the community come together for the cause.
“It felt really important,” she said.
“We had some people do the walk but not the information session, and others who did the information session but not the walk which was really great.
“The event was designed for attendees to be able to do what worked for them.”
The walk saw attendees go from Excuse Me Katie’s to the clocktower, where a memorial was set up for the 65 women killed by male violence in the past 12 months.
Ms Wilkinson said each attendee walked with a card which had information and names of each woman killed.
“Each attendee also had a flower, so when we got to the clocktower we put the cards on a display board and laid the flowers down,” she said.
“I think it’s really important to remember the women who are dying from male violence are people and had their own lives, careers, families, hopes and dreams – they’re not just another number.
“I think the memorial brought that home – it was really emotional.
“We then had a minute’s silence to honour all women who have been killed because of family and domestic violence.
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“We walked back to Katie’s for the information session, and the memorial will be on display in the window for the next week.”
The information session saw Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre chief executive officer Kerriann Campbell Jones and Lifeline Australia’s Megan Walsh speak about the domestic and family violence services available in the local area as well as through Lifeline.
Ms Wilkinson extended her gratitude to everyone who supported the event.
“I’m so thankful to all the local businesses who donated prizes to our raffle,” she said.
“A massive thank you as well to Kate Kent and her team at Excuse Me Katie’s for hosting the information session – Kate created a welcoming and meaningful place for the community.
“Camperdown is quite a small community, so to have the turnout we had on a Friday afternoon was amazing.
“Lots of people were generous with buying raffle tickets, and we had support from the Corangamite Shire Council as well as local businesses.”
All money raised through door tickets and raffle ticket sales went towards Rize Up Australia
Rize Up is a community-driven organisation working to support families affected by domestic and family violence through raising awareness and various support programs.
“To be able to donate 100 per cent of the ticket sales and raffle ticket sales was amazing,” Ms Wilkinson said.
“We’ll only keep raising more and more as each year goes on and as we build momentum.”
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