Small Steps 4 Hannah nominated for Queenslander of the Year award

After losing their daughter and grandkids to horrific domestic violence, Lloyd and Sue Clarke decided their deaths should not be in vain. Now the foundation they formed has been nominated for the Queenslander of the Year award.

Hannah Clarke’s father Lloyd was holding a print which was made of his daughter’s foot, the only part of her that was not burnt, when an idea planted in his mind.

“We didn’t want their deaths to be in vain – we wanted something good to come from it,” Mr Clarke told The Courier-Mail.

The idea sparked from the print was Small Steps 4 Hannah – a foundation formed in the Clarke family’s darkest days to be a beacon of light for others facing domestic and family violence.

Small Steps 4 Hannah has been nominated for The Courier-Mail Queenslander of the Year award for the foundation’s tireless work advocating for victims of domestic and family violence.

Hannah Clarke’s parents Lloyd and Sue. Picture: Mark Cranitch

In February last year, Hannah and her three children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3 were set alight in their car in Camp Hill by Hannah’s abusive ex-partner and the children’s father.

Yet even as their world was falling apart, Sue and Lloyd Clarke along with their son Nat, began building the frames for their foundation.

“It’s just something we needed to do,” Lloyd said.

“I think it has been healing as well. It has helped us get though.”

In the past 12 months the charity has worked to educate families on healthy relationships and pushed to criminalise coercive control in Queensland.

“I think if Hannah herself would have known about coercive control she would have left earlier,” Sue said.

“We knew the behaviour he was showing was wrong but we didn’t know there was a word for it.”

The print of Hannah Clarke’s foot that sparked the creation of Small Steps 4 Hannah.

The foundation’s dream is to one day build a “high-rise” complex to provide six to 12 months accommodation for women to give them time to get lives back on track.

To celebrate the amazing feats of Queenslanders across our great state, The Courier-Mail is seeking nominations from the public to crown the Queenslander of the Year.

Nominees can come from all walks of life and any industry, but must embody the Maroon spirit of helping others, pioneering new ideas and hard work.

The award will be judged by a panel of eminent Queenslanders and announced on Saturday, June 5, ahead of Queensland Day on June 6.

Nominations must be emailed to [e-mail] by Friday, May 28.