Hundreds gather for candlelight vigils in Adelaide to remember Eurydice Dixon and promote social change

ON a cold night in the Adelaide CBD hundreds gathered to remember Eurydice Dixon, pausing for four minutes’ silence – one for each kilometre she was allegedly followed by her killer.

Hundreds of people turned out at a candlelight vigil in Elder Park to remember Eurydice Dixon. Picture: Matt Turner

ON a cold night in the Adelaide CBD hundreds gathered to remember Eurydice Dixon, a 22-year-old comedian raped and murdered while walking home in Melbourne.

Ms Dixon’s violent death has spurred calls for improved parkland safety and a change in a culture of “victim shaming”.

The crowd, illuminated by candles, paused for four minutes’ silence –one minute for each kilometre Ms Dixon was allegedly followed as she walked home in Carlton last Wednesday.

Nick Cave’s ballad “Into my Arms” played at a candle vigil for Eurydice Dixon following a four minute silence, one for each kilometre she was allegedly followed before being raped and murdered in Melbourne. @theTiser pic.twitter.com/R3LY8jiS0O

— Mitch Mott (@MitchMottTiser) June 18, 2018

The vigil was one of many held around Australia, including Perth, Albany, Sydney, Launceston, Canberra and Brisbane as well as numerous town and suburbs in Victoria.

Artistic director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and MC of the vigil Ali McGregor said Ms Dixon was an “unfathomable loss”.

“This is a city of festivals, a city of women all going home late at night,” Ms McGregor said.

Comedian Eurydice Dixon was killed on her journey home from Melbourne last week.

“Whether that be on stage, back stage, front of house, in the box office, working at the bar or in the kitchen. Not just the women working but all women.

“We are always going home late and we are always steeling ourselves. First making sure our phones are charged, calling a friend ahead of time, holding tightly to our keys ready to fight. “No one has taught us to do this, we just do it, we know it instinctively.

“We all know how that feels and unfortunately that feeling is a way of life for all of us.”

Reclaim Princes Park vigil for Eurydice Dixon in Carlton. Picture: Jason Edwards

South Australian Film Corporation chief executive Courtney Gibson said the time had come for radical social change.

“(Women) don’t need to be told, as we were last week by one police superintendent, that we need situational awareness,” Ms Gibson said.

“As women we know our situation and it is this: every year in Australia over 300,000 experience violence, often sexual violence from someone other than their partner.”

Another vigil for Eurydice Dixon held in Semaphore. Picture: AAP / Brenton Edwards

Emma Dawson-Spencer, 23, told The Advertiser that issues of women’s safety and victim blaming needed to be changed.

“This vigil is a start,” Ms Dawson-Spencer said.

“This is an issue which is unspoken and hidden away. Every second woman I know has been assaulted in some way and there needs to be fundamental change.”

Musicians from the Adelaide Cabaret Festival performed one of Ms Dixon’s favourite songs, the Nick Cave ballad “Into my Arms”.

Originally published as Hundreds gather for candlelight vigils in Adelaide to remember Eurydice Dixon and promote social change