Victoria digs deep as community reels from Eurydice Dixon’s tragic death
A RING of floral tributes continues to grow in the Melbourne park where the body of murdered comedian Eurydice Dixon was found as mourners gather to pay their respects.
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A RING of floral tributes continues to grow in the Melbourne park where the body of murdered comedian Eurydice Dixon was found as mourners gather to pay their respects.
Young women and men, families and those on their Saturday jog or dog walk stopped at Princes Park to remember a life cut too short.
A strong police presence, including horseback patrols, can be felt in the area as authorities try to reassure the public of their safety.
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SES crews set up a tent nearby with police chaplains joining members of the Red Cross and Victorian Council of Churches to offer support.
Red Cross volunteer Kathy Cooney welcomed all members of the community to join them to discuss any safety concerns they may have.
Ms Cooney said many people had been affected by the tragedy.
“I think people are really sad because of what’s happened,” she said.
“But also this place is very well loved to people and they are thinking this place they felt very safe has been changed for them.
“So I think there’s a lot of those sorts of emotions happening.
“We’re trying to help people to think about how they can look after themselves and the people that they love.
“And how they can get support from family and friends and other organisations like Red Cross and Victorian Council of Churches.”
Acting Commander David Clayton said Victoria Police many members of the community took the opportunity to talk with counsellors and support people along with discussing safety with police.
“Victoria Police would like to reassure the community that they can go about their usual business in the city they call home,” he said.
“As police, it is our role to provide people with both reassurance but also tips on how we can all stay safe in our community.
“We provide safety information recognising that responsibility for crimes always rests with the offenders who commit them.”
He added: “People should be able to walk home at night without being in fear and offenders need to be held to account for their behaviour.”
FOOTBALLERS’ CIRCLE OF SOLIDARITY
Footballers from the University Blacks and St Bernards have formed a circle of solidarity at the scene to pay their respects, saying men’s attitudes need to change.
The teams had just finished a game on a nearby field when they, along with their coaches, walked to the floral tribute.
Standing in silence, with their heads bowed, one player declared: “Let’s all show women the respect they deserve.”
Uni Blacks regularly train on the field where Ms Dixon’s body was found. They had trained on Tuesday night, just hours before her death.
Josh Bowden, from the Uni Blacks, said many of the players had been deeply affected.
“It was quite telling that on Thursday night a lot of blokes talked about it at training,” he said.
“We trained at Princes Park on Tuesday night and a lot of the guys live around here.
“It was close to home and we all have a lot of important women in our lives.”
Mr Bowden, 27, had one message to men: “It’s pretty simple: it’s just not good enough. We need to change.”
St Bernards star Owen McIntyre, 29, echoed Mr Bowden’s feelings.
“Football’s conceived to be a bit of a man’s game so I think we came over here to show a message … that we do have to show women respect,” Mr McIntyre said.
“It’s just part of society, it’s a big part of society and that incident doesn’t reflect that.”
Ms Dixon’s partner, fellow comedian Tony Magnuson, said she was uniquely talented and a “deep soul” who looked out for her family and friends.
“I suffer from anxiety and had stopped doing comedy,” he said. “Then I saw her perform and it made me start back up again.
“She had that effect on me.”
Mentor and comedian Kieran Butler said a future star had been “ripped away”.
“A lot of comedians take five to 10 years to find their voice,” he said. “Eurydice had found her voice only three years into her career.”
In Ms Dixon’s last performance, she joked about a futuristic slave society.
“I’m trying to be more optimistic,” she said to a laughing crowd. “Slave society, that means no-one has equal rights. We’ll finally have gender equality.”
Comic Paula Ferrari tweeted a video of the show, captioning it: “Beautiful, clever, funny Eurydice Dixon at her gig at Highlander last Tuesday. RIP.”
The Today Show’s Sylvia Jeffreys also took to Twitter, saying her “whole heart” was with Ms Dixon’s family and friends.
“It won’t happen to me. Not here. Not today. Not ever,” she wrote.
“We’ve all thought it and we’ve all made split decisions based on that. Eurydice had every reason to feel safe.”
A GoFundMe page set up by a fellow comic Luka Muller to assist Ms Dixon’s family exceeded $50,000 this afternoon.
In the description, it says her father wished to donate a late portion of the funds raised to charities his daughter supported.
Flowers, candles and messages of condolence and grief have created a makeshift memorial at Princes Park.
More than 7700 people are preparing to attend a public vigil at Princes Park.
The Reclaim Princes Park vigil will be held on Monday from 5.30pm, with more than 7700 Melburnians indicating they will attend.
To donate, go to gofundme.com/princes-park-victim-fund
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INSIDE TRAGIC COMEDIAN’S FINAL GIG
FOOTAGE of Eurydice Dixon’s final comedy gig has emerged, with the budding young comedian cracking jokes about feminism and gender equality before she was tragically murdered at Princes Park this week.
The aspiring performer debuted her new material at Highlander Bar and can be seen onstage in large spectacles and an all-black outfit, drawing laughs from audience members at the CBD bar off Flinders Lane.
She joked about a futuristic slave society, to many guffaws from her audience.
“I’m trying to be more optimistic,” she said to a laughing crowd.
“A slave society … that means no one has any rights — we’ll finally have gender equality. Equally shit — still equal,” she riffed.
Comic Paula Ferrari tweeted a video of the show, captioning it: “Beautiful, clever, funny Eurydice Dixon at her gig at Highlander last Tuesday. RIP.”
MAYOR FEELS UNSAFE IN OWN CITY
CITY of Melbourne lord mayor Sally Capp has admitted feeling unsafe in her own city at night.
Melbourne’s first directly elected female lord mayor in nearly 30 years spoke to 3AW in the wake of the tragic death of Melbourne comedian Eurydice Dixon, where she was asked if she felt safe walking around “at all hours of the night”.
“No. I think the practical outcome of that is ‘no’. And it’s going to be difficult to achieve that, really,” she said.
“Identifying safe areas to walk, cycle and drive and hoping that people use those is important, but at the end of the day we should all be able to move around our city safely. So focusing on the actions of those committing these crimes is very important.”
Ms Capp also poured cold water on suggestions for women to alter their behaviour in response to the tragic Princes Park murder, saying the focus should shift to perpetrators of crime.
“I believe we’ve really got to focus on what we can we do around the actions of perpetrators … because the city should be safe for everybody that wants to live, work and move through the city at whatever time of day — but the reality is, it’s not,” she said.
When asked if street crime was something Melburnians should have to learn to live with, Ms Capp said everyone should be able to travel in the city freely with no fear.
“We have really lived with safety issues through humanity, it’s been part of our culture and I’d say we’ve moved ahead in leaps and bounds,” she said.
“All we can do is keep learning from it and responding to it, but we have to make sure we are focused on the people that are taking these extreme actions and what can we do to stop that happening, while we continue to build on the safety of the city.”
EURYDICE’S TRAGIC FINAL MOMENTS
IT was a slow night at the Highlander Bar in the CBD on Tuesday.
Industry types, mostly, comedians watching comedians.
Eurydice Dixon, 22, got laughs doing her bold feminist riffs, flipping subjects close to her heart and subverting the conventional line.
Feminist websites always featured whining women, she explained in one set-up.
She preferred reading men’s rights websites, because they think women are having the best time ever.
It was typical of her material, and the intensity of her eyes on stage.
Challenging.
Fearless.
When David Bowie died, she mocked the public outpouring from people who’d never met a “dude who sang some songs that you felt something about … do you think he would have gone to your wedding?”
“She was intelligent enough to hide to a degree how intelligent she was,” says comedian and mentor, Kieran Butler.
Ms Dixon left the bar at 10.30pm with fellow comedian, Tony Magnuson.
They headed to Woolworths in Flinders St, where they bought protein bars and a Dr Pepper.
They walked towards Federation Square, and the tram stop, where they hugged.
It was before midnight.
“I think I feel like walking tonight,” she told Mr Magnuson, before blowing a kiss to her partner of four months.
About midnight, she sent him a text message: “I’m almost home safe, HBU (how about you)?”
Mr Magnuson was the last person to see Ms Dixon — this “deep soul who never took herself too seriously” — alive and well.
He spent Thursday afternoon with police.
He also spoke to Ms Dixon’s father, united in grief.
Confused and broken, Mr Magnuson — who had known Ms Dixon for two years — did not want to dwell on the final moments.
The 37-year-old wanted to cherish the childcare student and volunteer at a Thornbury vegan restaurant.
She wanted to go to Britain and would do anything for anyone.
“We’re all going to have to get together and remember her (comedy) material,” he said.
“She never recorded anything. She never wrote anything down.
She just got on stage and created a rhythm.”
Ms Dixon herself told the story of her comedy awakening with a lovely lightness.
She just decided one day, about three years ago, that she “should do stand-up”.
So she typed out a routine and googled a North Richmond pub that hosted first-time acts.
“I went up and did it,” she said in a podcast that aired a year ago.
“When I look back now, I would consider it not a great gig. But at the time I was like, ‘they didn’t boo me off, this is amazing’.
“Then I went back the next week.”
The seeming randomness of her violent death — at a busy thoroughfare so close to the city’s heart — bewildered locals who prize the wooded serenity of the parkland.
Comedians including Julia Morris expressed their grief, while wider Melbourne grappled with comparisons to the 2012 murder of Jill Meagher.
As Ms Dixon’s friends on Thursday mourned the loss of her lightness and laughter, a 19-year-old man from Broadmeadows appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on charges of rape and murder.
Ms Dixon’s death jarred on so many levels.
Her name — from Greek mythology — stands for “great justice”.
She was bright and colourful, shy and polite.
She wore big flowers in her hair and giggled when people couldn’t say her name.
She was said to care about her family more than anything else.
I am absolutely shattered to hear of the despicable death of Eurydice Dixon. Our comedy community is like a family & this news is beyond heart breaking. My deepest condolences go to her family and friends. An important and funny voice has been extinguished. Vale Eurydice Dixon Jx pic.twitter.com/aqXAxISePW
— Julia Morris (@Ladyjmo) June 14, 2018
My first stand up set when I was the same age as Eurydice Dixon, was about being afraid walking home at night. Making jokes about it was a way to feel slightly empowered instead of small and frightened. Mourning for this young comedian who was entitled to feel safe.
— Alex Lee (@alex_c_lee) June 14, 2018
Full houses at the recent Melbourne Comedy Festival attest to her sense of humour, as do photos that depict party poppers and blue lipstick.
A recent series of gigs was called At Home, I Feel Like A Tourist.
On Tuesday night, she was said to be in typically boisterous form.
Ms Dixon’s comedy career was growing.
Mr Butler says she bestowed an intelligence and depth far beyond her comedy years.
She eschewed the obvious comedy topics, such as relationships, to tackle bolder notions, such as robots, slavery and the idea that the combination might be a kind of equality.
Mr Magnuson said she was remarkably “iron-chested” on stage.
“She had grit when she was only 20,” he said.
“Every time she got on stage, she was locked and loaded.
She had tunnel vision.
She would go up with an idea and see it through until she found the funny.”
Mr Butler admired her poise, including extended setups that went for 90 seconds or more. “Sometimes nobody would laugh for five minutes and I would think ‘how is she doing this’?” But she would just barrel on because she was trying to work out what she was trying to say.”
In the podcast, she spoke about being a regular audience member at comedy gigs.
She had frequented women’s comedy nights, but had branched into the wider scene.
She joked that she wouldn’t like to have to watch herself.
It is believed that Ms Dixon attended Princes Hill Secondary College in Carlton North.
A friend told the Herald Sun that her mother died about a decade ago.
On Thursday, seasoned comedy veteran Chris Franklin said he hoped for a big turnout at a Highlander Bar gig next Tuesday to remember Ms Dixon.
“Eurydice was one of ours,” he said.
Pippa Bainbridge from La Mama Theatre spoke of Ms Dixon doing work experience at 15.
“I was struck by her unique and resilient spirit,” Ms Bainbridge said.
“We recently reconnected over a mulled wine at Aeso Studio and we spoke of the impact we had made on each other.
“Her life was never easy, but she gave of herself so generously.
“I can’t shake the feeling that we failed her … my heart breaks.”
She also performed elsewhere; On Thursday YouTube searches turned up footage of Ms Dixon playing a murder victim in a play called A Date with Death.
In the podcast, Ms Dixon was asked about her name — and Eurydice’s tragic end(s) in Greek legend — as well as its pronunciation.
“Uridicee”, she said, offering the phonetic version of the name she always had to pronounce four times.
Today, sadly, her name seems impossible to forget.