Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has spoken of the terrifying reality of her work as an advocate for sexual assault victims.
Ms Tame revealed this week the extent to which she had been targeted for shining a light on the dark world of child sexual assault.
‘I’ve been chased home. I’ve been in a car chase,’ she said in an interview with The Age,
‘I’ve had thugs come to the house, go through the bins, come to the front door, pull the door off its hinges,’ she shockingly revealed.
Ms Tame said these offenders target her inboxes on every platform and are sophisticated in they know how to act at very edge of the law to avoid being caught.
Having endured these frightening incidents, Ms Tame remains positive.
‘I try to hold on to the good things, the change that we were able to help drive as a collective, and the foundations that we’ve laid in order to continue to do more work that needs to be done.’
A survivor herself, Ms Tame was groomed and sexually assaulted by her 58-year-old teacher Nicolaas Bester at the age of 15, when she was in Year 10 at St Michael’s Collegiate girls’ school in Hobart.
Grace Tame (pictured) has revealed she had been targeted for shining a light on the dark world of child sexual assault
At the end of September, Grace Tame (pictured) will be embarking on a national speaking tour, ‘Lightening the Load’
Bester was subsequently convicted and jailed for his crimes.
That horrific experience propelled her into activism.
Ms Tame was involved in the #LetHerSpeak campaign, which successfully challenged Tasmania’s laws that silenced survivors from publicly identifying themselves.
In 2021, Ms Tame founded the Grace Tame Foundation to support initiatives aimed at preventing child sexual abuse and helping survivors.
Ms Tame gained national prominence after being named the 2021 Australian of the Year for her work in raising awareness about child sexual abuse and advocating for legal reforms.
Of the award, Ms Tame told The Age, ‘It was equal parts exhilarating and rewarding and exhausting and frightening and overwhelming and unpredictable.’
She added that the greatest privilege of her recognition was being a witness to what it sparked for the broader community of survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
‘I stand on the shoulders of giants, and the conversation around childhood sexual abuse and incest is something that is long-standing.’
Ms Tame caused controversy during her Australian of The Year term, especially when she refused to smile when meeting then-prime minister Scott Morrison at a morning tea for the Australian state and territory award recipients at The Lodge.
Grace Tame (pictured right) was famously photographed giving-then prime minister Scott Morrison (pictured left) a ‘side-eye’ glance. ‘I should probably get my eyebrows insured,’ Ms Tame said of the photograph
Ms Tame was famously photographed giving Mr Morrison a ‘side-eye’ glance.
‘I should probably get my eyebrows insured,’ she told The Age of the photograph.
‘It was such a brief moment, too. I think it’s as they say, a picture paints a thousand words.’
The photo drew national and international attention, with Ms Tame receiving praise and criticism.
In 2022, Ms Tame published her autobiography, The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner.
Her memoir revealed her childhood experiences of suffering and then exposing her sexual abuse, to her work as an activist and 2021 Australian of the Year.
At the end of September, Ms Tame will embark on a national speaking tour, ‘Lightening the Load’.
Ms Tame said the idea is ‘to reflect on the very jarring, very bizarre experience of being thrust out of obscurity and into this blaring, glaring spotlight’.
Lightening the Load is being billed as, ‘A sneak peek into her ongoing work – from legislative reform to personal growth – and see how she’s ‘lightening the load’ with others for a brighter future.’
Ms Tame said of Lightening the Load, ‘I like being in a room with people who are like me.’
‘The audiences that come to see me are often people who for whatever reason – it might be because they’re also autistic like I am, or it might be because they also have a similar experience of abuse or some kind of trauma – and they might have spent a lot of their life feeling like they’re on the outer, feeling isolated.’
