Sunday 26 October, hundreds of people are gearing up for another 8.8km walk to say NO to domestic violence.

Starting at St Leonard’s Park adjacent to North Sydney Oval and finishing at McMahons Point, the route will take the community through Balls Head Reserve, Lavender Bay, and Waverton.

Last year, almost 1,000 Sydneysiders registered and attended the Walk, showing their support for women and children surviving domestic violence.

Mary’s House Services is a not-for-profit organisation based in North Sydney that provides refuge, case management, and community programs for the women and children in need of escaping family and intimate partner violence. In the nine years Mary’s House has been operating, the organisation has delivered over 16,500 nights of accommodation.

‘People feel really strongly about the crisis of domestic violence, and they want to show up to say enough is enough… it’s been great to see the community wrapping their arms around the issue,’ says Mary’s House CEO, Yvette Vignando.

More than 100 women were murdered in Australia in 2024. This is a noted increase from previous years. Many of these homicides were committed by an intimate partner.

‘There is insufficient investment by government in this national crisis… I feel that we should have specialised domestic family violence courts in New South Wales,’ explains Yvette. ‘Intervention, recovery, prevention… The solution to significantly reducing and ultimately eliminating the crisis is to invest in the services that people need.’

Join Mary’s House Walk at www.maryshouse.org.au