Born in Cork, Ireland, Helen was the second eldest of six. Growing up in corporation housing in Dublin where the family had relocated – life was hard.
Helen’s German father was a brute. Never really settling into Irish culture, and missing his homeland, he took his anger and frustration out on his young family.
Meanwhile, people would tell her that her dad was such a lovely man. He was a ‘street angel and a house devil.’ Helen’s mother was a religious woman and often went to church ‘praying that things would get better.’ The priest knew about the violence at home and would explain that this was her ‘cross to bear.’
Sparking a lifelong personal crusade
Helen married a much gentler man and they immigrated to Australia in the late 1950s. By the time they came to Adelaide they had a child, August. Heather came along next and Peter five years later.
Over the next decade, Helen met a range of people who had intimate experience with domestic violence, and this sparked a fire in her to help. She cleared out a room in the back of their shop, broke down a window and made it a door. This building became the first drop-in centre for women seeking a refuge.
The Christies Beach community rallied, donating blankets and sheets, and baking lamingtons and cakes to raise money. In 1977, the first women’s shelter in the suburb of Christies Beach was finally opened.
Wanting to do more
But Helen wasn’t satisfied yet. She still had more to give and more positive change to create. She had the idea of a commemorative art space to be created in the centre of Adelaide, honouring the women who have died through domestic and family violence, and giving suffers a place to grieve reflect, and heal. In 2016, her vision for the Place of Courage was officially launched into action.
Helen is still tirelessly working towards this goal – and she is very close to seeing it come to fruition.
In 2020, Helen was bestowed an Order of Australia Medal for her life-long work supporting women in need.
Josephine Harvie
Peggy Robinson
Peggy Robinson's Story +
This is the story of Peggy Robinson, best friend to Helen Oxenham (OAM) who, along with Helen, began a journey of self-discovery and empowerment in the 1970s that ultimately led to the establishment of the Women’s Shelter at Christies Beach. It was a time of change, of anti-war sentiment, of social upheaval and a questioning of gender roles. Peggy had always had a strong sense of social justice, made stronger by her experiences of working for Community Services and her involvement in politics and the anti-war movement.
Peggy wanted to get away from the conventional attitudes towards ‘housewives,’ many of which she saw as repressive for women; she was never any good at needlework and cooking, preferring to read a good book or talk politics with her daughters’ friends. Peggy also wanted her daughters (she had six) to have the career and education she couldn’t have, despite her husband’s opposition. This made family life fraught and full of (sometimes violent) conflict. Peggy also wanted more from life, like intellectual challenge and purpose. She was not a bystander. Peggy, Helen, and their friends Connie and Josie shared an interest in women’s issues. They joined discussion groups, read and discussed feminist literature, joined consciousness raising groups and eventually the Women’s Liberation Group at Adelaide University, setting up the Tuesday Afternoon Group for older women. They were part of the core group who established the Women’s Liberation Resource Centre at Bloor Court. Peggy was already secretary of the local Labour Party so it was a natural extension to join the Women’s Electoral Lobby to help elect Whitlam in 1973. In 1974, they enrolled in the inaugural Women’s Study Group at Flinders University which proved transformative for all of them. For Peggy, the Flinders’ topic sharpened her sense of social justice and her belief that they could make a difference. The rest has become history. This small group of pioneering women went from setting up a women’s drop-in discussion centre at the back of August’s watchmaker shop, to sheltering women escaping violence, to eventually establishing the Christies Beach shelter in early 1977. Peggy was instrumental in writing the submissions, developing the constitution, and in getting ‘women on the move’ registered. Peggy and Helen formed a delegation to the Housing Trust who eventually bought a building they could rent for the shelter. But their struggles didn’t end there. They had bad press. They were accused of breaking up families, of abduction, and of running a brothel. They had to go to the State Planning Authority Appeals Court to fight multiple community objections. Because of their links with Women’s Lib, they were seen as too radical and almost lost their funding. But they persevered.
Unfortunately, Peggy didn’t get to experience the change in attitudes towards survivors of domestic and family violence. She died in a car accident in 1979 on her way to a Christmas party at the Christies Beach Women’s Shelter. As one of her daughters, I know she had no regrets, however. In her own words she wrote, ‘we see women helping each other, becoming people again, enjoying life together…how glad we are we decided to find out about women, their problems and tried to overcome them.’ Peggy, as I said, was no bystander. She and her friends intervened and made a difference. Had she lived, she (with Helen) would have continued to fight against DFV and for The Place of Courage.
Josephine Harvie's Story +
Josephine Anne Harvie (nee Gillivan), was born in Swansea, Wales (UK). She was the fifth of six children, including four girls and two boys (one who died in infancy).
The three younger girls had a very strong and special bond, growing up between the two world wars in a tough environment in Swansea. They were strong, feisty, funny women who never took a backward step.
Loving and compassionate, Josie married at the end of WW2 and emigrated to Australia in 1964 with four children, one girl and three boys, with another to arrive in 1966. This youngest child would be the catalyst for the friendship that blossomed between Josie and Helen when their respective sons went to the same school.
Very soon the notion of a drop in for women was born and Josie became a willing helper, assisting women trapped in domestic violence situations.
The 1970’s offered little or no provision for women and their children who sought refuge from violent households. From the beginning, an awareness and action developed, providing a safe haven for these women. Stories of ‘rescues’ are many, but the eventual establishment of a Women’s Shelter at Christies Beach offered a much needed facility.
This team of women are the foundation of the protection that is now recognised as a vital need in society and they should be acknowledged as brave, caring, brilliant women who took on the injustice of the treatment of women, and did something practical to help. These women were amazing. God bless them!
