Mitchell Shire Council is inviting residents to come together for a community craft project to support 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
The 16 Days of Activism is an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls, from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to December 10, Human Rights Day.
The One Billion Stars Project is a community project devised by Maryann Talia Pau, a weaver artist living on Quandamooka Country in Queensland.
The purpose of weaving stars is to continue nurturing global conversations of how to end violence using the joy and healing power of arts and crafts.
The initiative had an original goal of one million woven stars for the 2018 Commonwealth Games but received more than 2.4 million stars from more than 15 countries.
In 2021 the group aimed higher with the One Billion Stars Project bringing thousands of people together to weave one billion stars for violence-free communities by 2032.
Mitchell Shire Council is inviting everyone to contribute to 500 Stars for Mitchell.
The finished installation of 500 stars will be displayed during the 16 Days of Activism.
Mitchell Shire experiences high levels of family violence, with police crime statistics showing a family violence incident rate of 2515 incidents per 100,000 people for the year ending June 2021.
By comparison, the incident rate for Victoria in the same period was 1399.
The incident rate in Mitchell Shire was 180 per cent higher than the state-wide rate.
For Mitchell’s geography and demographics, its rate is unusually high and has been consistently high for a long period of time.
Mitchell Shire Mayor Bill Chisholm said the woven stars symbolised hope, courage and solidarity across the world.
“Across the shire, council is hoping to gather all members of community, including children and young people, to experience the joy of working together on a community craftivism project,” she said.
“We hope that these gatherings start conversations around the issue of violence against women and how we can work together to prevent this violence.
“This project is an outstanding example of teamwork and thinking of others, and we all should be part of it.”
A video with instructions on how to make the stars is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNc_RYPPfbM.
To be included in the display, stars need to be delivered by November 8 to one of the following locations: Broadford Living and Learning Centre; Broadford Library and Customer Service Centre; Kilmore Library and Customer Service Centre; Seymour Library and Customer Service Centre; Wallan Library and Customer Service Centre; or Greater Beveridge Community Centre.