The Elsie Refuge for women and children was a women's refuge set up in Glebe, Sydney in 1974. [1] The project was the beginning of the NSW Women's Refuge Movement that responded to the needs of women and children escaping domestic violence by providing access to specialist accommodation and support services operating within a feminist framework.
In November 1973, Women's Liberation activists Anne Summers and Jennifer Dakers called a meeting at Women's House in Sydney to discuss the setting up of a "refuge" to provide free accommodation for women in various distress situations. [2] In March 1974, Summers, Dakers and other women activists, including Bessie Guthrie, Robyn Kemmis, Kris Melmouth, Margaret Power, Carol Baker, Diana Beaton, Christina Gibbeson and Trudy Brickwood squatted an abandoned property at 73-75 Westmoreland Street, Glebe and set up the refuge in response to the lack of services and support available to women and children suffering from domestic violence. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] It was estimated that lesbians made up about 50% of the activist staff at the Elsie Refuge and associated Rape Crisis Centre set up nearby in Glebe by Kris Melmouth. [6] [7]
Initially, there was no support from governments, [8] with the staff at the centre providing security with nothing more than a cricket bat. They were one of a number of activist groups who had squatted in derelict houses in the Anglican Church owned "Glebe Estate" in the pathway of a proposed freeway part of which was to pass through the area. The building, along with the other 700 dwellings on Glebe Estate, was purchased from the Anglican Church by the Whitlam government in 1974 and the refuge was granted a lease. The Whitlam government established the Department of Urban and Regional Development, who fought back against the proposed expressway and redevelopment projects, and provided funding for the refuge. [9] Later the refuge was moved to larger premises in nearby Derwent Street.
Although crisis accommodation for women had been available for a long time, it was very limited. [10] Elsie Refuge and its feminist counterparts were the first to run a service from a feminist perspective that focused on helping women escape domestic violence. [1] [11]
The management of Elsie Women's Refuge was handed over to the St Vincent de Paul Society in August 2014. The records of the Elsie Women's Refuge for the years 1974-2014 are held in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales. [12]
Erin Patria Margaret Pizzey is a British ex-feminist, Men's rights activist and advocate against domestic violence, and novelist. She is known for having started the first and currently the largest domestic violence shelter in the modern world, Refuge, then known as Chiswick Women's Aid, in 1971.
Glebe is an inner-western suburb of Sydney in New South Wales. Glebe is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southwest of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney, in the Inner West region.
A green ban is a form of strike action, usually taken by a trade union or other organised labour group, which is conducted for environmentalist or conservationist purposes. They were mainly done in Australia in the 1970s, led by the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) and used to protect parkland, low-income housing and buildings with historical significance. At times, industrial action was used in relation to other issues, such as when a 'pink ban' was placed on Macquarie University due to the expulsion of Jeremy Fisher, a gay man, from student housing.
A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to describe a location for the same purpose that is open to people of all genders at risk.
Marie Tulip was an Australian feminist writer, academic and proponent for the ordination of women as priests.
The Union of Australian Women (UAW) is a left-wing women's organisation concerned with local and international issues regarding women's rights, international peace and equality.
Anne Summers is an Australian writer and columnist, best known as a leading feminist, editor and publisher. She was formerly First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Her contributions are also noted in The Australian Media Hall of Fame biographical entry
Detour House is a non-profit organisation servicing homeless and other at-risk girls and women, based in Sydney, Australia. Detour House also incorporates The Girls Refuge, a crisis accommodation service for homeless girls.
Bessie Guthrie (1905–1977) was an Australian designer, publisher, feminist and campaigner for women's and children's rights. She was one of the founders of the Elsie Women's Refuge Night Shelter, the first women's refuge in Australia.
Joyce Stevens AM (1928–2014) was an Australian socialist-feminist activist, communist, and historian, one of the founders of the women's liberation movement in Sydney, prominent in the wave of feminism that began in the late 1960s in Australia.
The women's liberation movement in Oceania was a feminist movement that started in the late 1960s and continued through the early 1980s. Influenced by the movement which sought to make personal issues political and bring discussion of sexism into the political discourse in the United States and elsewhere, women in Australia and New Zealand began forming WLM groups in 1969 and 1970. Few organisations formed in the Pacific Islands, but both Fiji and Guam had women affiliated with the movement.
Squatting in Australia usually refers to a person who is not the owner, taking possession of land or an empty house. In 19th century Australian history, a squatter was a settler who occupied a large tract of Aboriginal land in order to graze livestock. At first this was done illegally, later under licence from the Crown.
The NSW Women's Refuge Movement began in 1974 with the establishment of Elsie Refuge in Glebe, NSW. Other refuges were established throughout the 1970s, operating within a feminist framework and responding to the needs of women and children escaping domestic violence. At first, the refuges were developed through volunteer effort and without government funding. Gradually the government took over funding of the refuges, with the states funding the buildings and the federal government funding the running costs. The NSW Women's Refuge Movement continued to provide services to women with diverse needs and to raise awareness about domestic violence.
Bonnie Women's Refuge is a women's refuge located in south-west Sydney, established in 1974. It was the second refuge to open in Australia, following Elsie Refuge, and formed part of the original NSW Women's Refuge Movement which was established to meet the need for specialised housing and support services for women and children escaping domestic violence. The refuge, now operated as a company limited by guarantee with the name Bonnie Support Services Ltd, is registered as a public benevolent institution. It continues to provide vital support and crisis accommodation for women and children experiencing and escaping domestic violence.
Marrickville Women's Refuge, also known as Jean's Place, was a women's support facility formally opened in April 1976. It was one of the earliest refuges to open in New South Wales as part of the original NSW Women's Refuge Movement in response to the need for specialised feminist housing and support services for women and children fleeing domestic violence, following that of Elsie Refuge and Bonnie Women's Refuge. Today, the refuge operates as a company limited by guarantee with the name Marrickville Women's Refuge Ltd, and is registered as a public benevolent institution. The refuge, whilst still known as Marrickville Women's Refuge, has been trading as the Aboriginal Women and Children's Crisis Service since 1 November 2014, after the implementation of the 'Going Home Staying Home' tendering program in New South Wales.
Jenny's Place was established in 1977 and was the first women's refuge in New South Wales' Newcastle region. The establishment of Jenny's Place was integral in the response to the recognised need for feminist housing and crisis services for women and children escaping domestic and family violence, part of the original New South Wales Refuge Movement. It was one of the earliest refuges to open following that of Elsie Refuge, Bonnie Women's Refuge and Marrickville Women's Refuge. Today, the refuge continues to operate as Jenny's Place Inc., and is a registered public benevolent charity.
Ellen Malos was an Australian-British scholar and activist associated with Bristol Women's Aid, and a key figure in Bristol's Women's Liberation Movement.
Australia's Royal Commission on Human Relationships was established in August 1974 by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) after the failure in 1973 of the government to pass reforms to the country's abortion legislation.
Louisa Lawson House (LLH) was a mental health centre for women in Leichhardt, New South Wales that operated from 1982 to 1994. Named after Australian feminist Louisa Lawson, it operated as an alternative to mainstream psychiatry, featuring yoga, meditation, conflict resolution training, and anxiety management training. In 1986, the centre opened a minor tranquiliser clinic to help women with withdrawal symptoms from addictive tranquilisers which were in circulation at the time. One division called the "halfway house", launched in September 1985, was a program to provide housing to women with emotional problems, and it was launched with funding from the local department of youth and community services.
Women's Liberation House, also known simply as Women's House, was the headquarters for the Women's Liberation Movement and epicentre for organizing around issues impacting women in Sydney and across Australia from the late-1960s through the 1990s.
