Sexual violence in Aboriginal Communities in Western Australia (WA) became a topic on many people\'s agenda after the establishment of the Gordon Inquiry, following the tragic death of 15-year-old Susan Taylor, a young Nyungah woman from the Swan Valley community in the north east of Perth, in 1999. The Gordon Inquiry was established to inquire into the seemingly epidemic problems of sexual and family and domestic violence amongst Aboriginal communities in WA. Like other cultures that have been subject to colonisation and genocide, Indigenous Australians suffer appalling health and social problems. Aboriginal people are more likely to have chronic and debilitating disease and have shorter life spans than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. Atkinson (2002) argues that family and domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health problems and sexual violence are linked to the transgenerational effects of trauma and that these effects create further trauma. Sexual violence and other forms of abuse replicate the process of Colonisation on the smaller scale. In finding ways of working with Aboriginal peoples, it is imperative that we begin to de-colonise and re-empower all members of the community in order to make lasting change. This paper seeks to discuss some of the issues relating to sexual violence in Aboriginal communities in Western Australia, and ways in which services can work in partnership with Aboriginal people to heal transgenerational trauma.
Conflict of Interest: None disclosed
Financial Support/Funding: None disclosed
Sydney, Australia, April 2007
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