Damaris was already alert as she walked along Melbourne's Merri Creek — she'd seen several Facebook posts from women who said they'd been sexually harassed in the area.
Warning: This story contains content that may disturb some readers.
But she figured a sunny Friday afternoon on a relatively busy section of track near a playground would be safe.
She was on the phone to a colleague when she saw him.
"He had his trousers down around his ankles … masturbating, and looking over at me," she said.
"I had that kind of split-second 100 thoughts. Do I take a picture of this person? Do I run away? Can he find me? Will he be able to follow me?
"I just decided to run."
The creek was one of the main reasons Damaris's family moved to the area in the city's inner north. The experience has now recoloured her view of what she said had been "just a joyful place".
Last month, less than a week after Damaris's encounter, Kate — who did not want to use her real name — was out walking when she came across a man standing a little way off the path.
"I saw this light shining randomly in the dark. And I was like, what's that? … He had his phone light shining on his genital area, and he was masturbating in full view," Kate said.
"He saw me and then turned the light off and started towards me."
She started walking away, but thought she could see the man following her so started to run.
"I was thinking, I could get raped, I could get killed," she said.
More than three years after a brutal assault along the popular trail, and after decades of promises to improve safety, women like Kate and Damaris are not alone in their frightening experiences.
Concerns are growing that offender behaviour could escalate to another violent assault.
'This keeps on happening'
Sexual offences have long been a concern along Merri Creek — a eucalyptus-lined haven for residents of the Melbourne suburbs which border its banks.
Thirty years ago, in 1993, a community survey commissioned by Melbourne Water and the Merri Creek Management Committee found personal safety was a problem for almost one third of respondents using the space, with "danger (snakes/flashers)" the top reason for not visiting the creek.
In late 2019, a man raped and nearly drowned a woman on the trail. It was one in a series of sexual assaults in the northern suburbs in the years preceding, and a flashpoint for women.
A Reclaim Our Merri Creek rally drew hundreds of people. Government and media attention spiked.
Merri-bek (then Moreland) council pledged action, commissioning Monash University's XYX Lab in early 2020 to survey local women and produce recommendations for change.
The researchers recommended ongoing communication and outreach from council, as well as lighting underpasses at critical points along the trail.
Those locations for lighting included the Moreland Road underpass, which was specifically requested by nearly half the women XYX Lab surveyed.
In its formal responses to the report, the council did not indicate it planned to introduce lighting at the underpass, where police are investigating a recently reported sexual offence.
But after it was contacted by the ABC, Merri-bek mayor Angelica Panopoulos said in a statement the council was investigating the possibility of installing lighting at underpasses along the creek.
She said the council had "implemented a range of actions in recent years, including cutting back vegetation for visibility, widening paths, and supporting community events along the creek".
The other main council in the area — Darebin — said its approach to "discouraging unsavoury activities" included "landscaping activities such as regular path pruning for sightlines, thinning of dense vegetation near shared trails and adequate signage".
But Belinda Lo, who helped organise the 2019 community rally, said she felt there had been little progress made in improving women's safety and not enough communication from local councils.
"We just know that this keeps on happening," she said.
Four separate offences reported this year
And in the years since the community's push for change, there have continued to be incidents reported along the trail.
A three-month data collection initiative by XYX Lab and Crowdspot in 2021 asked women to self-report spots in Melbourne where they felt safe or unsafe.
The results identified 55 unsafe pins along the creek, and just one safe pin.
Several said awareness of the 2019 attack was continuing to inform how they experienced the track. Others cited personal experiences of harassment and assault on the creek.
Between October 2019 and September 2022, Victoria's Crime Statistics Agency recorded at least 29 crimes against the person along the creek. At least seven of those were sexual offences.
This year alone, police have confirmed they are investigating four separate sexual offences on Merri Creek reported by women — including Damaris and Kate.
All involved men "exposing themselves and performing lewd acts" on the stretch of the trail that runs through Coburg, Thornbury and Brunswick East. The reported events are not believed to be connected.
Several more incidents have been reported on local Facebook groups — something Ms Lo said was outrageous but not surprising.
"I haven't noticed any changes on the Merri [since the rally]," the 44-year-old community lawyer said.
"Women continue to feel unsafe in public spaces."
A case study in casual harassment
Melbourne University criminologist Bianca Fileborn lives near the Merri Creek.
She recently completed a three-year project on sexual harassment in public spaces, and said the creek was one example of society's indifference towards so-called "casual" harassment, and its effects on women.
While acknowledging women continue to be most at risk of violence in their own homes, Dr Fileborn said street harassment should still be viewed as a priority health issue.
"There's really very little response in Australia right now to street-based and public harassment," she said.
"It creates this context where these behaviours are normalised and condoned. There are very little formal repercussions for men — and it is predominantly men — engaging in this behaviour.
"But the research is really clear that these experiences, particularly when they're encountered again and again, have really profound harms and impacts."
She said women feeling afraid in public spaces was one part of a much bigger picture, which could contribute to conditions like long-term anxiety, depression and PTSD.
On top of the effects on victims' psyches, Dr Fileborn said not taking casual harassment seriously can lead to escalating offender behaviour — something she is increasingly concerned about on the Merri Creek track.
Despite this, she has struggled to engage politicians and government bodies. She said everyone she attempted to engage in either stakeholder interviews for her street harassment project or subsequent policy advisory either declined or did not respond.
Greens MP for Brunswick Tim Read was the exception.
He has called for the state government to work with councils to fund local programs like bystander intervention training — which helps people know how to respond safely and effectively when they witness incidents — and sexual harassment awareness campaigns.
He said he saw a greater role for council in "activating" the trail to help make it safer.
"That's getting more bodies onto the path and making it an attractive place for people to visit," he said.
Mr Read also said he would meet with local police in the coming weeks to discuss the potential for an increased presence on the track, and improved communication with victims and the public.
Victoria Police said officers in uniform "consistently patrol along the Merri Creek trail", and they had reached out to both the Merri-bek and Darebin councils in light of recent incidents and only received response from the latter.
In the past two months, police have arrested two people for alleged "non-contact" sexual offending. At least three other incidents — including all those mentioned in this story — remain under active investigation, according to police.
Damaris said she was determined to keep using the creek trail. But she said she felt a lot more jumpy, wondering if any of the men she walked past were the one who had exposed himself to her.
For Kate, avoiding the area for the time being feels like a safer option.
"I've had a lot of people say, 'Don't let this guy have power over you. You should still go for your walks'," Kate said.
"But ... I'm a bit traumatised now. And it might just be easier for me to not go there ever again."
