The Elsie Refuge for women and children was a women's refuge set up in

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 1974. The project was the beginning of the

NSW Women's Refuge Movement 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 escapin ...

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.

History

A group of

Women's Liberation The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

activists, led by

Anne Summers Anne Summers AO (born 12 March 1945) 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 M ...

including

Bessie Guthrie 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. Ear ...

and Jennifer Dakers,

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

an abandoned property in Westmoreland Street, Glebe and set up the refuge in response to the lack of services & support available to women & children suffering from

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

. Initially, there was no support from governments, 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 Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

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. 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. 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. 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.

References

External links

Elsie Women's Refuge
managed by St Vincent de Paul Society.

covering events related to Elsie Refuge
Forty years of the Elsie Refuge for Women and Children
Dictionary of Sydney website {{Authority control Feminist organisations in Australia Women's organisations based in Australia Glebe, New South Wales Women's shelters in Australia 1974 establishments in Australia 2014 disestablishments in Australia

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links