The classic Australian country lifestyle is often depicted in a romantic light but for some, especially women living on rural properties, it has a dark side.
Warning: This article contains information some readers may find distressing.
The harsher environment and conservative culture in rural areas are among the factors behind the prevalence of domestic violence against women in the bush, according to one of Australia’s eminent researchers of gendered violence.
Adjunct Professor Kerry Carrington, from the University of the Sunshine Coast’s School of Law and Society, has published several papers on domestic and family violence in rural areas.
“That kind of violence is very isolated and that’s all about mainly women on rural properties not being able to escape, the family going through dreadful financial crises during drought or flood, and drinking in the home,” Professor Carrington said.
“[Some men are] deeply conservative in their views of gender.
“Their identity was still very much hooked up with ‘sons of the soil mythology’, that they are the masters over nature, not nature is the master over you.”
Professor Carrington’s findings, which are based on research in several communities across Queensland and New South Wales over six years, are echoed by the Dubbo-based Western NSW Community Legal Centre.
Help may be 300km away
Senior solicitor Tori Mines said their research revealed there could be an unequal power balance between men and women in rural areas.
Ms Mines said the pressures of farming life, lack of frontline services like police, and isolation could perpetuate domestic violence.
“In those towns, the nearest 24-hour manned station may be 300 kilometres away,” she said.
“So [there’s] that real elevated risk that, if there’s something happening, there is no immediate response from police, even if police are called.
“That makes the fear that naturally comes with domestic violence so much more elevated and scary for victim-survivors.”
The centre’s research was based on interviews with victim-survivors across western NSW.
“In regional and remote areas, perpetrators often take advantage of these issues to reinforce abuse and psychologically control victims,” the research found.
“This can include reminding victims that no-one will hear them scream, telling them that no-one will help or believe them, reinforcing that they have nowhere to escape to, and threatening that if they do try to leave the perpetrator will shoot them.”
The intimacy of rural life also creates dangers.
“Everyone in the town knows everyone and, particularly in a lot of cases that we see, that male perpetrator is well respected in the community, knows all of the service providers, is liked, is valued,” Ms Mines said.
“So one, that puts fear in, ‘I can’t speak out against this person’, but also, ‘Even if I do my privacy is very likely not protected’.”
‘I knew that I had to get out’
Kate Ronne is one of Tori Mines’s former clients and now works with the centre.
The mother of two remembers the last night she spent with her abusive former partner after he had taken her from her home town to live hundreds of kilometres away in a rural area of northern NSW.
“He knew I was going to go and I remember thinking that I wasn’t going to go home the next day. I was terrified,” she said.
Ms Ronne endured two years of physical, emotional, and financial abuse before she managed to escape in 2017.
“He threatened to kill me. He said to me that he wanted to strangle me. I knew that I had to get out. I couldn’t risk my life or my son’s life any further,” Ms Ronne said.
She recalled one day that stood out among many that were filled with fear.
“He physically assaulted me, which included hitting and choking, and it went on for most of the day,” Ms Ronne said.
“We lived out of town [and] he drove me into town and he threatened to kill us both while driving.
“[He said] ‘I’m just going to drive into a tree and kill us both’, and he was threatening to hurt people that I loved. It’s just one of those days that’s stuck with me.”
Rural flashpoints
Ms Ronne’s story is one of thousands in rural and regional New South Wales.
Her home city of Dubbo, in the central west, ranks fifth in the state for having the highest number of domestic violence incidents in the 12 months to March 2024.
Walgett recorded the most, with the number of domestic violence cases in that town being eight times the state average.
The state’s 10 worst locations for domestic violence are consistently in regional and rural areas, rather than metropolitan or urban centres.
Ms Mines said the figures showed country communities deserved more funding and resources.
“It definitely demonstrates the real need for frontline services in these regions. It also demonstrates the complexities, they’re just the stats in terms of women who are reporting,” Ms Mines said.
Ms Ronne agreed that the stigma associated with domestic violence and reduced access to support services in rural areas made fleeing a lot harder.
“There just wasn’t enough. I was just too scared to go and see them. Being a regional town made it difficult,” she said.
“I don’t think there are enough services at all and I think the services that are there currently don’t have enough funding to service the amount of need that there is.
“We’re just drowning out here with domestic violence.”
Despite this, Ms Ronne has this message for other women.
“There is life after domestic violence after you get out. There is a brighter side. You can get safe,” she said.
“I’ve had to completely restart my life. Doing all those things were really difficult but it was so much better than what I was in. There is a way out.”