EVERY week, when Maureen Hatcher was a child, she went to church as a Saint Alipius parishioner.<\/p>\n
Big Catholic families, like her own, filled the pews from end to end, but little did she know, many of the children in the room were experiencing unthinkable trauma.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn May of 2015, there was the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and that\u2019s when we heard a lot of the truths of what had happened,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ballarat East stories affected me. I knew some of the people who were speaking out, and I definitely knew the families because of the long pews filled with so many children, and at school there was always one of that family ahead of you, in your year or below.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suddenly her memories of grade 6 at the amalgamated Saint Alipius Parish Primary School made sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey closed the Christian brothers\u2019 school, and the boys came back to our school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat year was quite wild. There was a lot of violence, boys were upset, there was a lot of anger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hatcher caught up with old school friends to speak about the revelations, and they\u2019d seen ribbons appear at St Patrick\u2019s College as a sign of acknowledgement of student victims and survivors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought the old Christian brothers\u2019 school needed ribbons as well, as a show of visual support, so we went and tied some ribbons,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The fence outside the old St Alipius Boys\u2019 School became the first official \u2018loud\u2019 fence and the LOUD Fence movement was founded.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there\u2019d been too much silence,\u201d Ms Hatcher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always a show of support. It\u2019s about acknowledging what\u2019s happened, making sure it doesn\u2019t happen again and involving survivors in that process.<\/p>\n
\u201cLOUD Fence was needed not just for clergy abuse survivors but for all survivors of child sexual assault. We\u2019ve been able to bring many of them together who didn\u2019t have prior connections.<\/p>\n
\u201cLOUD Fence is still going strong, if not stronger, and I love that we\u2019ve managed to connect a lot of survivors locally and throughout Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organisation consists of a survivor group, volunteers, and a board, and has a\u00a0LOUD<\/span>\u00a0Space<\/span>,\u00a0leads\u00a0workshops,\u00a0has\u00a0been part of university projects, and helped launch National Survivor Day.<\/p>\n As an early childhood professional, Ms Hatcher works as a development advisor for Playgroups Victoria.<\/p>\n She said playgroups provide spaces for adults to connect, as much the kids, and she\u2019s set to lead an intergenerational trial in Ballarat.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are links in all I do,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about keeping children and families safe.<\/p>\n \u201cAgain, connection, and connecting families, is important. Especially if they\u2019re going through trauma, or drama, whether that\u2019s short-term or long-term.<\/p>\n \u201cTo connect them in and make them feel part of a community is huge, especially when there\u2019s vulnerabilities involved, and what family doesn\u2019t have some type of vulnerability at some stage?\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Hatcher grew up in Warrenheip, worked in childcare in Melbourne and at the University of Ballarat, before shifting to teach in children\u2019s services.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking back, all my work has been about connection, and to be able to create that is really valuable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n This year, the Zonta Club of Ballarat is honouring Ms Hatcher as one of Ballarat\u2019s Great Women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" EVERY week, when Maureen Hatcher was a child, she went to church as a Saint Alipius parishioner. Big Catholic families, like her own, filled the pews from end to end, but little did she know, many of the children in the room were experiencing unthinkable trauma. \u201cIn May of 2015, there was the Royal Commission […]<\/p>\n