Victims of domestic and family violence remembered at Candle Lighting Ceremony in Bundaberg CBD

Residents from all walks of life gathered in the Bundaberg CBD for an emotional ceremony as victims of domestic and family violence were named and remembered. Watch the video.

An emotional ceremony was held in Bundaberg to remember the lives lost to domestic and family violence this year.

EDON Place hosted the Candle Lighting Ceremony in the Bundaberg CBD on Wednesday night as part of Domestic Violence Awareness month.

In a moving part of the ceremony EDON Place’s Scott Lamond read the names of 22 people to have lost their lives to domestic and family violence around Australia this year.

Inspector Grant Marcus from Bundaberg police spoke of officers regularly witnessing the trauma of domestic and family violence.

“We’re confronted on a daily basis with the trauma that domestic and family violence brings to our community … (and) see first-hand the massive impacts it has and the constant challenges required to address it,” Mr Marcus said.

Members of the public placed candles on a table as the names were announced of women and children ranging in age from 10 months to 65 years who have been killed by domestic and family violence in 2023.

“Domestic and family violence simply has to stop – it’s not acceptable, and is has no place in our community.”

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Bundaberg MP Tom Smith spoke about the need for a collaborative approach involving the whole community to address the issue.

“This is all of the community coming together as one to say that together, we will do everything we can to remember the victims and to support those who need our support,” Mr Smith said.

Narelle Watson from the River Nations Indigenous Corporation said that a focus on early intervention was needed.

“We need to … identify vulnerability early and pay closer attention to what’s going on in our community, inside the homes of these families who are victims of domestic violence,” Ms Watson said.

“We are facing a crisis of huge proportions and loss … that is tearing our communities apart and breaking our hearts.”

Among the public who attended the ceremony, Sean Stuchbery was struck by the ages of the victims of domestic and family violence named by Mr Lamond.

Sean Stuchbery was struck by the ages of the victims of domestic and family violence read out during the ceremony.

“To hear some of the ages of those people, three months old to 65 years old, it’s unbelievable,” Mr Stuchbery said.

Mr Stuchbury agreed with the need for a collaborative approach.

“If you’re out at dinner and you see people having an argument sometimes, people … turn their back on it instead of just saying ‘is everything okay?’,” he said.

Juanita Varley said the event was an opportunity for storytelling and to highlight the people behind domestic and family violence statistics.

Juanita Varley (left) and Leone Joseph (right) attended the Candle Lighting Ceremony.

“It’s humanised them, it’s put a name to the people who have died,” Ms Varley said.

“Otherwise people hear about some tragic stuff that hits the media and … then everyone goes back to their lives.”

Shalom College principal Dan McMahon said a solution to domestic and family violence needed to start with young people.

Principal of Shalom College Dan McMahon attended the candlelight vigil.

“We’ve got to change the narrative for young people, as they grow into adults, that they’ve got to say ‘this is just unacceptable’,” Mr McMahon said.

“Just treat people respectfully, respect people’s dignity, and work out how to dialogue differences – that’s a crucial part of education.”

Leone Joseph was touched by the ceremony.

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“To see that it’s not just one section of the community that is affected by this, no-one is untouched by it,” Ms Joseph said.

“That makes you connect to a wider community – this is what (the ceremony) does, in a small way, is connect people and communities.”

Queensland Courts data shows that 492 applications for Domestic Violence Orders have been made in Bundaberg courts since July 2022, a 6.7 per cent increase.

EDON Place is hosting a Walk for Awareness on May 19 at 7.30pm, at Bywash Park in Bundaberg South.

Originally published as Victims of domestic and family violence remembered at Candle Lighting Ceremony in Bundaberg CBD