The beautiful face of Hannah Clarke was burned into my psyche a week before I fled from a relationship with small children.

The second relationship in my life I fled due to profound fear, it was in the forefront of both mine and my sister's mind the day she came to pick me up.

Thanks to her coming four hours with her ute, I was able to take children's clothes, toys and treasured items instead of leaving on foot with a bag.

"Come on please, hurry up, you don't want to end up on the news," she said. "I am really scared."

Throwing the bags I had prepared after my ex-partner had left for work in the back of the ute, we sped out of town as fast as we could, making the four hour trip home to Hay.

I was and am one of the lucky ones. My children and I have been subjected to profound sadness and pain, all of which I would give anything to swipe away with the swish of a magic wand.

But we are here. We are lucky enough to still be alive.

A startling, jarring fact came across my screen today. Since the murder of Hannah and her children, 431 women have been killed in Australia.

One fifth of the population of the town we live in.

"The slaughter of Hannah and the children in the street should have been enough for police forces across the country to ensure they never make the same mistakes and failures – but it didn’t," wrote Sherele Moody in her article, NOTHING HAS CHANGED EXCEPT THE DEATH TOLL, for the Red Heart Campaign recently.

"Earlier this year, a woman was murdered within a week of telling police she feared her husband would kill her. The police officer she spoke to told her ‘come back when you have evidence of physical abuse’. It’s not known if that officer logged her fears in the system."

Even the headline of that article is incredibly jarring.

"But here’s the thing – nothing has changed," the article continued. "I know this because every time a woman is killed in our country, we can find at least one moment where authorities could have intervened and potentially saved her."

We are really lucky in Hay, we have a solid police force who do everything they can to help.

But Femcide Watch reports that every woman who is killed regardless of whether by a stranger, or a known person, there is some point or another in each case where the victim could have been saved.

To buy merchandise, of which 100 per cent of the proceeds going to Red Heart Foundation and Femcide Watch, visit https://australianfemicidewatch.org/shop-2/

To donate, however large or small, visit https://australianfemicidewatch.org/support/

https://australianfemicidewatch.org/

There is no real one fix, no one answer but if we all chip away at what we can, then our sisters, mothers, daughters, nieces, neighbours and friends might be saved one day.