Following numerous incidents of women being harassed while running or walking along the Campbells Creek Trail, a group of 30 local women gathered late last year to meet and discuss what could be done.
One of the group organisers Marion Yates told the Express that many of the women told stories of being followed, some with their children, and described the devastating impact on them of not feeling safe to go for a walk in their own community.
“The women described feeling the need to change their own behaviour to feel safer, including not walking on the Campbells Creek trail, or not walking alone or at certain times,” she said.
“Women described the fear they experience while out walking or running, that this was something that is always there in the background, something we all know as women, something we all experience throughout our lives, and how recent local incidents have heightened this fear.”
After the community gathering, Sissy Austin – a Peek Woorroong Keerraay Woorroong Djab Wurrung First Nations woman living on Dja Dja Wurrung country, a keen runner and the founder of a national movement called Take Back the Track – reached out to Marion and they began organising a local event.
Sissy, who recently moved to Castlemaine, was assaulted in 2023 while running in the Lal Lal State Forest near her home in Ballarat. The attack resulted in a severe concussion and post-concussion syndrome. Sissy held a very strong stance that she would not allow anyone to steal from her, her love and connection to running, and went on to run in the Indigenous Marathon Project later that year.
“The awful experience I had, matched with the love of running, inspired me to start Take Back the Track,” Sissy told the Express.
“I spent a year healing myself and reconnecting to the love of running and that was kind of more of a personal journey. Now I’ve gotten to a place in my journey where I want to bring women and gender-diverse runners along with me in taking back the track.
Sissy told the Express that the Take Back the Track movement was a call to communities across the country to take action and Castlemaine was the first to organise an event.
“I have loved running here and I’ve found it very healing to run somewhere other than Ballarat,” Sissy said.
“I was really upset when I heard about the violence and harassment that people were experiencing on the Campbells Creek Trail so I offered up my support and solidarity with those who run on the trail,” she said.
“Everyone knows that runners and walkers love and have a connection to Country – Taking Back the Track is about celebrating and protecting that, as well and calling on men across the country to be in solidarity with us out on the track, so women and gender diverse runners feel less alone.”
The inaugural Take Back the Track day will be held on February 16, commemorating one year since runner Samantha Murphy was allegedly murdered, not far from where Sissy was assaulted a year before.
“Take Back the Track is about an elimination of those thoughts that you have prior to going for a run, ‘I’ve got to wait for the sun to rise,’ or ‘I better not run there because it doesn’t feel quite right’,” Sissy said.
“All those internal feelings that women and gender-diverse runners and walkers know too well. It’s replacing those with, ‘No I’m going to go for a run’ and ‘I feel free and safe to do so’.”
Sissy’s close friend Beck Kelly, a proud Yorta Yorta woma, said that after Sissy’s assault, she “saw her rise like this incredible phoenix”, continuing her love of her running and taking on the Indigenous Marathon Project.
“I think having something like Take Back the Track is so empowering for women and gender-diverse people who may be feeling unsafe and being surrounded by people who are supportive, whether they are women, gender-diverse or male runners,” she said.
The Castlemaine Take Back the Track event will be held on Sunday, February 16. A free, family-friendly event for people of all fitness levels, the run/walk will start at Campbells Creek Park at 9.30am and finish at Castlemaine Botanical Gardens for a community gathering and picnic, which will run from 11am to 1pm.
For further information, follow Facebook event page ‘Take Back the Track Castlemaine’ or visit www.takebackthetrack.com
