Why Birds in the Bush?

The Bird is beautiful, fragile, and sometimes caged. She thrives in a flock but doesn’t survive on her own. Like women, birds come in all colours, shapes, and sizes, but are united by common traits. ‘Bird’ is Australian slang for women, sometimes used in a derogatory sense but by embracing the title, we make it our own and remove the stigma. ‘The Bush’ is where we live and sadly, its overburdened with domestic violence. The Bush is our common ground. We should fight for where we live, and each other, one bird in the bush to another.

The Cause – Domestic Violence in the Central West

Most recently, our hometown of Orange recorded over double the State’s average of domestic violence incidents.

332 domestic violence incidents were reported to police in Orange between July 2021 and June 2022. This equated to about 7.8 incidents per 1000 people. This rate is likely to be significantly higher given studies show that 60% of domestic violence incidents are unreported.

According to the NSW Recorded Crime Statistics quarterly update of June 2022, the Central West saw an increase of sexual assault and domestic violence by 28%, one of the largest increases in New South Wales.

Fundraising

In 2021, a free International Women’s Day (IWD) event was held at Robertson Park CWA Hall, raising a modest sum of $5,000 for Housing Plus, the Orchard - a refuge for women and children escaping domestic violence operating in Orange NSW.

In 2022, our IWD event was held at Nashdale CWA Hall. We raised over $35,000. These funds were used to fund support groups for women experiencing domestic violence and other much needed, but unfunded services within the Orchard.

In 2023, we raised a whopping $100,000 for The Orchardwith plans to use the money to fund a counselling service for local women experiencing domestic violence.

Our Founder - Vanessa Vazquez

Birds in the Bush was founded by Vanessa Vazquez. Vanessa is a solicitor based in Orange NSW at Whiteley Ironside & Shillington Solicitors. In her work, Vanessa witnesses the all-pervasive and commonality of domestic violence in the Central West. Whilst it is most prevalent in family law and crime, domestic violence bleeds into other areas of law like employment, estates and migration.

Vanessa saw a need to increase awareness of how prevalent domestic violence is and that it is not restricted to people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. She also sought to garner awareness of services by supporting and raising funds for the local women’s refuge (the Orchard) which at the time, was copping heat because people didn’t want a domestic violence shelter in their own backyard.

Vanessa is a survivor of childhood domestic violence and knows personally, the profound effect it has on a child. If we can change this for one child or one woman, then we have achieved our mission. Together, we can make the invisible, visible.

Source: Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research BOSCAR