When she was just 17, she saw her mother and stepfather have an argument that turned physically violent.

Nine days later, Aunty Gail’s mother was dead. She was just 44.

“It was on my mother’s birthday,” Aunty Gail said.

“She was doing the washing. She and my stepfather got into a blue over me and he dropped the washing machine on her foot.

“It caused a clot, and she died nine days later.”

This incident was not an isolated one, and Aunty Gail said she was also often the target of her stepfather’s physical aggression.

When her mother died, she was in the process of making firm plans to leave her husband.

“On the day before they got married, he threw her into a door and cut her her face, all around her eye. He pushed her down the stairs,” Aunty Gail said.

“She married him because she thought I needed a father. I needed a father, but I didn’t need a father like that.”

Aunty Gail recalls another incident, which occurred when she was staying at a friend’s house.

A message came, via another friend, that her stepfather wanted her to come home, and that if she did, he would promise to stop hurting her mother.

He did not keep that promise, Aunty Gail said.

At 17, Aunty Gail had already lost her father, so her mother’s death left her alone.

“After my mum died, I left home and never went back,” she said.

“I went where I could to find a bed, and if I couldn’t find one, I’d sleep in the park.”

Losing her mother after already enduring the death of her father was tough for Aunty Gail, who had been adopted at the age of five.

She eventually found her way to Wollongong and later returned to Wagga.

Life stabilised after she was able to find a permanent home and she eventually married and started her own family.

A mother of two, Aunty Gail now also has two grandchildren.

Aunty Gail said she felt while it was important to remember the past, it was equally important to live for now, and for the future.

The Wiradjuri elder was at Mount Austin Public School on Friday for an annual event to mark White Ribbon Day.

Children heard from Detective Sergeant Phil Malligan of the Wagga Local Area Commend, and from Betty Egan, the southern region domestic violence co-ordinator, who spoke about the need for zero tolerance of violence against women.

They released white balloons and listened to The Beatles’ song Let It Be.

​If you need help, call the Domestic Violence Line on 1800 656 463

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