A King Hit To The Face
Without Prejudice
Domestic Violence in every shape and form is one of the biggest hidden secrets in Australia. The real statistics would shock everyone, the same as one of the other biggest secrets, homelessness. The real statistics are hidden as everyone is scared if the truth came out it would reflect badly on the Government. Being the elephant in the room I am going to drag it out in to the light and examine it. It hits ( sic ) close to home for me as it happened to one of my daughters.
Just before their shared daughters 5th Birthday my daughters ex partner King Hit her in the face, causing her pretty face to completely collapse on one side. She was one inch away from death. There had been rumbles of anger from him in the past. Always verbal. He was an unhappy man, not working, addicted to gaming, ( mainly the game, Fortnite) no money, no secure place to live,
He started off a very happy go lucky young guy. But a darkness set in very quickly when he and my daughter started sharing a life together. They had 3 great little kids. Two boys and a girl. My daughter could not believe she finally had a girl. She had five boys to a former partner. I think she was always grateful to her new partner for giving her a girl.
They bumped along for ten years. No relationship is perfect and theirs certainly wasn't. But they had shared interests, became best friends, parents. And one day he just went feral.
And tried to kill her.
I will do a bit of background of Australian society here. Australia tends to be a Patriachal society. Not Matriarchal as in the U.K. Or the U.S. I was surprised to know that the U.S. Is Matriarchal but apparently it is and it's mainly the African American women that rule the families. Think about it ! U.K. men tend to be very focused on Family, and are on the whole, respectful of Women.
I am sure there are exceptions to the rule.
But I'm generalising here.
We still have a society in Australia that idolises our most famous larrikin, the Bushranger, Ned Kelly. An Irish born rebel who was armed and dangerous. A Robin Hood character who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. We are also a big beer drinking culture. Both rebellion and alcohol, ( a heady mix) can make us armed and dangerous. Armed with mouths, fists, legs, and tanked up on alcohol, we can cause severe damage without weapons.
Australia, when I was growing up in my adopted home, was a hot, desolate and boring existence. If we little ten pound poms ever went to a party men stood outside and drank and the women gathered in the kitchen and gossiped or talked about kids, their errant hubbies or cooking. Women didn't have careers they raised families. These were the days before The Pill.
Men viewed women as Marriage material, Mothers or Whores, there was no in-between, women were "Shielas", and were expected to Love, Honour and Obey. Especially obey. We as a Family were puzzled by this attitude as Dad was Scottish and Mum was English and Mum definitely ruled the Family. Also both our parents were tee totalers so that tended to make them not go to parties and barbecues where alcohol was being served.
At the very most they might have a soft drink or Scoosh as my Father called it.
I can never remember going anywhere where there was violence. Except for at the Migrant Hostel where we lived for two years.
It was post Second World War and tensions still bubbled up in the different nationalities housed there. We heard there were knife fights between European Nationalities, and I was terrified for my oldest brother who jumped the back fence one night to see these kind fights for himself. He was 9 or 10. I was 3 and sworn to secrecy. I was so relieved when he came back. The night was quiet, no knife fights, for once.
More to come ...
Domestic Violence in every shape and form is one of the biggest hidden secrets in Australia. The real statistics would shock everyone, the same as one of the other biggest secrets, homelessness. The real statistics are hidden as everyone is scared if the truth came out it would reflect badly on the Government. Being the elephant in the room I am going to drag it out in to the light and examine it. It hits ( sic ) close to home for me as it happened to one of my daughters.
Just before their shared daughters 5th Birthday my daughters ex partner King Hit her in the face, causing her pretty face to completely collapse on one side. She was one inch away from death. There had been rumbles of anger from him in the past. Always verbal. He was an unhappy man, not working, addicted to gaming, ( mainly the game, Fortnite) no money, no secure place to live,
He started off a very happy go lucky young guy. But a darkness set in very quickly when he and my daughter started sharing a life together. They had 3 great little kids. Two boys and a girl. My daughter could not believe she finally had a girl. She had five boys to a former partner. I think she was always grateful to her new partner for giving her a girl.
They bumped along for ten years. No relationship is perfect and theirs certainly wasn't. But they had shared interests, became best friends, parents. And one day he just went feral.
And tried to kill her.
I will do a bit of background of Australian society here. Australia tends to be a Patriachal society. Not Matriarchal as in the U.K. Or the U.S. I was surprised to know that the U.S. Is Matriarchal but apparently it is and it's mainly the African American women that rule the families. Think about it ! U.K. men tend to be very focused on Family, and are on the whole, respectful of Women.
I am sure there are exceptions to the rule.
But I'm generalising here.
We still have a society in Australia that idolises our most famous larrikin, the Bushranger, Ned Kelly. An Irish born rebel who was armed and dangerous. A Robin Hood character who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. We are also a big beer drinking culture. Both rebellion and alcohol, ( a heady mix) can make us armed and dangerous. Armed with mouths, fists, legs, and tanked up on alcohol, we can cause severe damage without weapons.
Australia, when I was growing up in my adopted home, was a hot, desolate and boring existence. If we little ten pound poms ever went to a party men stood outside and drank and the women gathered in the kitchen and gossiped or talked about kids, their errant hubbies or cooking. Women didn't have careers they raised families. These were the days before The Pill.
Men viewed women as Marriage material, Mothers or Whores, there was no in-between, women were "Shielas", and were expected to Love, Honour and Obey. Especially obey. We as a Family were puzzled by this attitude as Dad was Scottish and Mum was English and Mum definitely ruled the Family. Also both our parents were tee totalers so that tended to make them not go to parties and barbecues where alcohol was being served.
At the very most they might have a soft drink or Scoosh as my Father called it.
I can never remember going anywhere where there was violence. Except for at the Migrant Hostel where we lived for two years.
It was post Second World War and tensions still bubbled up in the different nationalities housed there. We heard there were knife fights between European Nationalities, and I was terrified for my oldest brother who jumped the back fence one night to see these kind fights for himself. He was 9 or 10. I was 3 and sworn to secrecy. I was so relieved when he came back. The night was quiet, no knife fights, for once.
More to come ...
