Reflecting poignantly on ten years after the tragic death of her son Luke, Rosie Batty
Australia was rocked by a tragedy of domestic abuse ten years ago that left the country in pieces. Luke, the son of Rosie Batty, a name that will always be ingrained in people’s minds, was brutally attacked by his father. Batty’s moving remarks on the tenth anniversary serve as a potent reminder of the lasting effects of family violence and the continuous battle for accountability.
In a recent interview, the former Australian of the Year said, “On one level, you can’t believe ten years have passed” on Stellar’s podcast, Something To Talk About. “On a deeper level, it’s unbelievable that you were a mother at all, with a fantastic little kid who was your whole universe and the reason for your existence. You are aware that you will be overcome with emotion while sitting.”
Ms. Batty said to presenter Sarrah Le Marquand that certain dates, including Luke’s birthday and his death anniversary, “are most significant to me now.”
“Then, occasionally, it happens when you least expect it, like when you catch up with one of his friends who is now 21 or 22 years old. These are young men who are pushing their boundaries; some are finishing their university degrees and visiting Europe, for example, and you’re always thinking, ‘Wow, look at you. However, I should be staring at Luke with you,” she said.
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As women worry for their children constantly, regardless of age, Ms. Batty clarified that she should be feeling the typical anxieties that come with being a mother.
“Those are the silent thoughts I keep to myself, sitting there and realising that I would never experience that kind of happiness or fulfilment in life—I will never grow old and all that kind of stuff. It hurts and is depressing,” Ms. Batty said.
Ms. Batty courageously faced the media the morning after the horrific event in 2014, telling them that “if anything comes out of this, I want it to be a lesson to everybody” about family and domestic abuse.
It may be difficult to determine if that lesson was ever really learned more than ten years later, as Australians look forward to another year in which we will probably exceed the yearly average of one woman per week reportedly dying at the hands of a current or former male partner.
Since Luke’s death, Ms. Batty has dedicated her life to a number of causes, including “shifting the victim-blaming narrative towards accountability on the perpetrator (who is) choosing violence.”
In 2018, she resigned from the nonprofit she had founded in her son’s honour, stating that “one person can only do so much.”
“We all play a part in stopping violence towards women and children, and we’re still struggling to comprehend the link between that and gender inequality,” she said to Le Marquand.
“We all look (and tell ourselves), ‘Other people behave in that way, that doesn’t happen to people like me; what I’m doing or what I’m experiencing isn’t really violence’.”
