In December last year my sons were running laps around the oval as part of their school’s colour run. Streams of water flowed from the fire trucks parked on the sidelines, the teachers were squirting hundreds of kids in coloured chalk as they darted past, squealing in glee, and Holding Out for a Hero was pumping over the speakers.
There’s one particular video I treasure from that day – now more than ever. It shows my son sprinting through the colour gauntlet as Hannah McGuire, one of the school’s staff members, runs up to him and immerses him in a sea of colour, jumping up and down jovially. I remember laughing along with her and admiring her enthusiasm and joy. I didn’t know her well but she was always warm, encouraging and filled with energy.
Hannah’s body was found in a burnt-out car in the outskirts of Ballarat last week. While her family, the school community and all those in her expansive circle of friendship are left dealing with the loss of their loved one and the harrowing circumstances surrounding her death, the Ballarat region is reeling in the shock of yet another fracture in its community.
Our city has experienced several tragic, unrelated events in quick succession over the past several months. The disappearance of 51-year-old Samantha Murphy and the subsequent charging of a 22-year-old with her alleged murder, the death of Sebastopol mother Rebecca Young in a suspected murder suicide by her partner, the mine collapse at the Ballarat goldmine causing the death of a 37-year-old man and the serious injury of a 21-year-old, and now the alleged murder of our Hannah – a jubilant educator whose death has solidified the ripples of sorrow through our community.
Ballarat might be a big regional city – there are more than 100,000 people living here now – but for the 30 years I’ve been here it has always felt like a tight-knit country town. There’s less than three degrees of separation between us all. When one individual hurts, everyone does. When one family experiences loss, the community feels the void.
In the years I’ve worked as a journalist in regional Victoria, I have witnessed incidents that threaten to disrupt our social fabric. But the suffering over the last few months has really hit close to home. As a mother of three, and someone who feels strongly about the building of vibrant communities, it is devastating to witness such hardship. As well as leaving residents anxious about the state of local affairs, these tragedies have women in particular feeling unsafe. I know I’ve wondered whether it’s still a good idea to walk in the early hours of the morning outside my home. This time last year I wouldn’t have questioned it.
Tragedy does not come with a silver lining. There is nothing comforting about the alleged murders of three women just months apart. But if there is anything we can grasp on to, any beacon at all, it is that with these wounds we see a surge in community support. It happened when hundreds of people gathered at a vigil to honour Samantha’s memory and when women in Ballarat and beyond planned tribute runs in her honour. It happened during the bushfires, when individuals opened their homes and hearts to those having to flee their communities and seek safety. It is happening now, as the Clunes cricket club and wider community rallies behind Hannah’s family, showing that as they grieve the rest of the community stands ready to support them, to immerse them in colour as she did to us.
We don’t want to be defined by sadness. Our community is more powerful than the sum of its parts and, in a regional city such as ours, the swell of support is felt just as acutely as tragedy. In a previous story I wrote for Guardian Australia about the impact of road fatalities on regional communities, the Southern Grampians shire council chief executive, Tony Doyle, said: “People in smaller communities are more familiar to each other in their surroundings, such as schools, communities, workplace, sport and community activities. In many instances local history connects generations of people. So even when people do not know the person directly they may know other family members or know of them through local narratives and stories that connect them as a community.”
It’s important for each of us to continue doing all we can to strengthen the fabric of our towns, to look out for one another, and to be a force of good – because that too has a ripple effect. And while it’s often during times of crisis that the light glows at its brightest, we should be working to build that sense of togetherness when the going gets good so we can have a solid foundation when it gets tough. This doesn’t just apply to our city. It’s a mantra everyone needs to live by.
I think we are moving in the right direction. I know mental health problems, youth crime, abuse and prejudice – issues not unique to my home town – are among the forces of disintegration that need to be combated if we are to grow into a more robust and vibrant community. But there are a wealth of organisations, charities, clubs and individuals who are passionate about effecting change and building a stronger Ballarat. We can’t let these acts of good be drowned out by the darkness.
This morning in the car, my son said he would like to say a prayer for Hannah. Believe in prayer or don’t, there is power in emanating positive thoughts and feelings and, more importantly, translating them into action. Amid a world that seems to be so rapidly deteriorating, we all have to be heroes.
• This article was amended on 11 April 2024 to include the death of Rebecca Young.
