THE idea for a cluster women’s refuge in Bendigo has been around for 15 years. Annie North chief executive officer Julie Oberin first saw the model operating in Adelaide and could immediately see the benefits it could bring to central Victoria.

“The last visitors had to be blindfolded,” the duty manager at the Annie North Women’s Refuge and Domestic Violence Service in Bendigo said, with an apologetic smile. We were about to visit their traditional high-security communal refuge, where safety is also assured by the security code at the door, the screens on the windows and the anonymous suburban house location. All the women and children come from outside the area and are asked to keep their new location confidential.