Hundreds gather at Rosalind Park for action against gendered violence

The harrowing statistic is why hundreds of people gathered at Rosalind Park on Sunday morning; to say "no more" to women being victims of violence, especially by male perpetrators.

The rally was one of many across the country organised by Indigenous-led not-for-profit What Were You Wearing?, demanding more government action and an end to gendered violence.

Local organiser Melissa Asta said she was blown away by the support in Bendigo.

"This is the first time that I've ever been a part of something like this," she said.

"I worked alongside some incredible women to make this happen in less than a week, and to get this many people here after organising for that amount of time, I've got no words."

Ms Asta said she was a survivor of gendered violence, and was silenced for almost 40 years.

"I won't be silenced anymore," she said.

"We know that every single woman, at the very, very least, has been made to feel unsafe, but pretty much everyone has at least one story of assault, violence, of being unsafe in her day-to-day life.

"We are not safe. We have to plan ahead to go and do what a man doesn't have to give a second thought. We have plan these things. The hypervigilance is exhausting."

The rallies were called for in the wake of a rise in incidents of male violence against women, including the Bondi Junction stabbings, the murder of Samantha Murphy in Ballarat, Emma Bates in Cobram this month, and Logee Osias in Bendigo last year.

Guest speakers in Bendigo included Centre Against Sexual Assault Central Victoria chief executive Kate Wright, Centre for Non-Violence chief executive Margaret Augerinos, Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association family violence lead Meg Bagnall, and She's A Crowd founder Zoe Condliffe.

Ms Augerinos said police responded to 4500 family violence incidents in Bendigo over the past 12 months, leading to fears the demand for support will overwhelm local services.

Rally organisers called for governments to declare violence against women a national emergency and to fund all domestic, family and sexual violence services for at least five years.

They called for better training for first responders and media to stop victim blaming, and for news organisations to wait at least 48 hours before publishing photos of victims.

They also wanted alternative reporting options for victims and specialist courts to hear cases of violence.

Ms Augerinos, who had more than 30 years of experience working with victim survivors, said it as time for action.

"We've got to a point here in this country where people are just so outraged at what is happening and that these same stories continue continue to happen," she said.

"We need to address what drives toxic culture in our society, toxic male culture in particular, and not only what do we need to do to prevent it, but how do we best respond in a trauma-informed way that supports and prioritizes the needs of victim survivors.

"We should be ringing our politicians, we should be knocking on their doors and asking them what they're doing, what leadership they're taking, we should be asking our politicians to not shy away from naming what the problem is.

"It isn't all men, but it's a lot of men who are doing this, and each and every one of us has a responsibility to follow up, but also to start to call out the types of behaviors that we know drives violence against women."