In traditional times and before the arrival of Europeans in Australia, Indigenous women were deemed to be the property of men. They were objects men could do with as they saw fit.

During my time working in remote areas of WA during the 1970s, the entitlement and possessiveness of girls and women by men was still very much a part of life. 

The worm is turning, but to this day, far too many men regard women and girls as goods and ‘possessions’ to be dealt with as they like. We have far to go in shedding and hopefully eliminating this thinking and subsequent actions from indigenous and, indeed, from all cultural mores. 

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