On a Friday night in March, a wine and cheese night was in full swing
at the popular Ballarat nightclub Haida. It was a few hours past
midnight, but acting students Raymond Martini and Paul Morris had no
desire to leave the club's party atmosphere for the dark and cold that
waited outside. They both knew the dangers of walking the streets of
Ballarat late at night.''We were downstairs having a great time,'' Morris recalls. ''And then we saw this guy who was really not enjoying us.''
This menacing observer, described as ''big, well-built and pissed-off'', continued to stare at the increasingly uncomfortable students until Morris decided to make a peaceful approach. Due to the club's loud music, he had to get close to speak to the unknown man.
''I probably shouldn't have, but I went up and asked him if there was anything we had done to offend him,'' he said.
As Morris recoiled, Martini quickly came to his aid. ''When he hit me the first time, I didn't really know what happened. I turned around and he got me a second time. I think by then he'd already hit Raymond. He got Raymond in the eye.''
The two students' experience is not uncommon in Ballarat. Victoria Police crime statistics report more than 774 instances of assault in the past 12 months. This figure does not include the 540 reports of family violence.
In the past six months alone, an Indian restaurant owner has been seriously injured in a racially motivated bashing, a young mother was violently killed in her home and two Ballarat men have been charged with the murder of a 14-year-old boy who was bludgeoned to death after coming to the aid of two teenage girls.
Victoria Police's crime statistics also indicate an increase in rape of over 40 per cent, to 52 rapes, in the 12 months to July 2012. These crime reports do not include other sex crimes such as indecent assault, indecent acts in the presence of a child and sexual abuse. These miscellaneous sex crimes have also increased by a staggering 64 per cent, with 208 instances reported last year.
When compared with other regional cities, Ballarat's crime rate does not fare well. Victoria Police's most recent statistics show that despite having a slightly higher population, Greater Bendigo had 190 fewer reports of non-domestic assault than Ballarat. Southern areas of Melbourne with similar populations have an even lower number of offences; in the same year, Ballarat had 349 more assaults reported than the City of Glen Eira.
City of Ballarat councillor John Phillips is confident that the latest police statistics are a natural reflection of the city's population growth. ''These figures may reflect Ballarat being the fastest growing regional city in Victoria … which can skew the figures somewhat. [The city receives] around 2000 people annually.''
University of Ballarat student representative Aubrey Flood argues that Ballarat students are the most vulnerable targets for violent crime due to long class hours and a lack of university parking. ''A lot of our classes end at night-time; sometimes we have 12-hour days finishing at 10 or 11pm. At this time it is too dangerous for students to walk home or to even walk a small distance to a free parking spot at the top of Coles or Safeway,'' she said. ''We've had instances every year when students have been beaten up or bashed on their way home … it's quite dangerous.''
Morris is one of many students forced to risk the walk home every week. ''I do often walk home at maybe 10.30 at night. If see a group of people up ahead, I'll always cross the road. Even if I see one guy, I'll usually cross the road. I suppose that's a little bit paranoid but that's just the way it is … I don't particularly feel safe.
''If I were a woman, I probably wouldn't walk at all.''
''I've only been living here for a year, but I've heard a whole bunch of things,'' Martini says.
''There's a tunnel near Peel Street North - it's now called the 'Rape Tunnel' … it's pretty horrible.''
The City of Ballarat acknowledges on its website that Ballarat has had a high unemployment rate for many years, has a lower-than-average percentage of students who have passed year 12 and the population is ''less educated than the state average in most areas''. ''While [the unemployment rate] has recently fallen sharply to 6 per cent, it is still higher than other regional cities in Victoria and higher than the national rate,'' the council's website says.
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