We walk alongside Aboriginal women and their children on their journey to safety and wellbeing.
Welcome to Djirra
Djirra is safe place where culture is shared and celebrated.
We offer a range of practical supports to Aboriginal women and children in Victoria, particularly those who are experiencing, or are at risk of experiencing, family violence.
The work we do is designed by and for Aboriginal women, with self-determination at its heart.
Through supports, programs and loud advocacy, we are committed to a future where Aboriginal women don’t just survive, we thrive.
What we do
Legal Service
Prevention & Cultural Programs
Upcoming Events
If you are experiencing family violence and need support please call 1800DJIRRA (1800 354 772).
If you are in immediate danger, call 000.
We are on Instagram
Government is threatening to cut funding for services used by women experiencing family violence.
Why must women always pay with our lives?
When funding is cut, women pay.
With our safety. With our lives.
@Antoinette_Braybrook AM, CEO of Djirra, said:
"After more than two decades as CEO of Djirra, this has not improved. It has worsened.
Violence continues to rise.
More of our children are taken because of family violence.
More Aboriginal women are criminalised for seeking safety.
And now this?
I have said this over and over.
When does this fight for funding end?
Why is cutting funding for women’s safety still even on the table?
Why isn’t funding hitting the ground for frontline services, where women’s safety depends on it?"
This is unacceptable. Women deserve better.
Read more: https://bit.ly/4t45qw
#AboriginalWomensLivesMatter #FamilyViolence
Hey sisters, our April KWP workshop calendar is ready!
We have some exciting new workshops including:
✨ Healing Stones with Elisha from Miiki Puuri Mandi (Mildura)
✨ Soap Making with Nolita from Black Ochre (Melton)
✨ Healing Mats with Narnz (Abbotsford)
✨ Watercolour & liner art with Elisha from Miiki Puuri Mandi (Online)
✨ Flower Arrangements with Ed from Hello Hydie (Melton)
✨ Sacred Scents for Self Love with Lee Couch (Online)
✨ KWP Art Circle (Mildura)
Our monthly Virtual Sista Yarns on 21st (Online)
To register please contact KWP on 1800 105 303 (and press 3) or email kwp@djirra.org.au
Stay deadly you mob! 🖤💛❤️
For Aboriginal women, prevention is practical. It is immediate. And it is life changing.
It is Aboriginal women having the knowledge, support and connection needed to recognise risk, understand their rights and access services for safety.
It is women having readily available tools and an advocate to navigate racist and punitive systems.
Djirra CEO @Antoinette_Braybrook AM says, “Prevention is not just a program. Prevention is power – and that power must sit with Aboriginal women. All levels of government must invest in Aboriginal women to drive this work.”
An important start will be a sustained investment from the federal government’s commitment of $218 million, for Djirra and other specialist FVPLSs, for prevention and case management services that prioritise Aboriginal women.
Prevention programs are not an add on for Aboriginal women – they are critical. Djirra’s prevention programs draw on Aboriginal women’s resilience and strength. In practice, prevention is:
• Djirra’s Sisters Day Out®, Dilly Bag, Young Luv® and Koori Women’s Place
• Djirra’s specialist frontline legal and non-legal services
• Programs designed by Aboriginal women, for Aboriginal women
• Programs and services that create connection, strengthen knowledge and ensure women are not navigating violence alone
It is time to get serious about prevention. It is time to invest in Djirra’s tried, tested and proven solutions. This means sustained investment in Aboriginal women’s self-determination.
Prevention is not just about future outcomes. It is about changing the reality Aboriginal women are living right now.
#AboriginalWomensLivesMatter #SelfDetermination
It’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Racism against Aboriginal women is not accidental. It is systemic, sustained and intensifying.
In our work at Djirra, we see this every day.
We see Aboriginal women being racially targeted and criminalised, their children removed, by punitive and racist systems.
We see systems shaped by racial bias, where credibility is too often given to non Aboriginal men over Aboriginal women.
We see racism driving decisions that should be about safety, not punishment.
“Aboriginal women are not just dealing with gendered violence. We are navigating gendered violence in systems shaped by racism that is systemic, sustained and intensifying. That is the reality.” - @Antoinette_Braybrook AM
This is not isolated. It is structural.
What we see on the frontline is backed by the evidence. More than half of Aboriginal people now experience racism, rising from 39 percent in 2014 to 54 percent in 2024. How many more reports will it take before governments act?
This is not progress. It is escalation.
As racism grows in frequency and intensity across the country, we urge you to stand beside us as we fight against racism in every form.
We deserve better. Governments must act now to eliminate racism.
We know what works. Aboriginal women’s self-determination must be backed and resourced.
We need sustained investment in Djirra’s solutions, so our women can continue to lead with strength, resist racism and drive change every day.
#AntiRacismDay #AboriginalWomensLivesMatter
Why is it that year after year, on National Close the Gap Day, we are still calling out the lack of progress?
For over two decades, Djirra has put forward solutions grounded in the lived realities of Aboriginal women and children. Solutions that work.
But still, we are not heard. Still, our solutions are not invested in.
Themes come and go. Words sit on pages. But nothing changes when governments are still not listening or getting serious about Closing the Gap.
Only 4 of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track.
4 have gone backwards.
4 have no new data, including Target 13 on family violence against Aboriginal women.
This is not progress. Our women and children are living the consequences.
This is not justice.
It is not justice when Aboriginal women are criminalised for seeking safety and labelled the primary aggressor of violence.
It is not justice when our women are punished for the violence they experience and their children are taken.
There is no equality. There is no healing.
Our CEO @Antoinette_Braybrook AM says, “If governments are serious about Closing the Gap for Aboriginal women, our voices must be heard and our solutions invested in.”
LISTEN, ACT AND INVEST.
• Stop turning safety seeking into criminalisation.
• Stop turning safety seeking into child removal.
• Invest in Djirra’s Child Protection Notification Referral System so that Aboriginal mums have early access to legal support.
• Invest in Aboriginal led solutions like Djirra.
Our women and children deserve better.
#CloseTheGap #AboriginalWomensLivesMatter
Our annual Easter Drive is back! 🐰
Help keep our women and bubups warm and toasty this Easter by donating to our KWP Easter drive!
We are seeking *new* donations for the following items:
• Slippers
• Dressing gowns
• Towels
• Gloves
• Beanies
• Easter eggs.
Items can be dropped off to any of Djirra’s KWP offices, Monday to Friday between 9am – 4:30pm. The cut off is Friday 27 March.
ABBOTSFORD: 292 Hoddle Street, Abbotsford
MELTON: 1927 Gisborne-Melton Road, Kurunjang
MILDURA: 139–141 Langtree Avenue, Mildura
*** We ask that all donations are new and unused ***
Reach out to KWP on 1800 105 303 (press 3) or kwp@djirra.org.au if you have any questions.
We are excited to announce that our CEO, @Antoinette_Braybrook AM will join global changemakers at the Women Deliver Conference 2026, held on Wurundjeri Country in Narrm (Melbourne) from 27–30 April.
Aboriginal women’s leadership belongs on the global stage - and at #WD2026, it will be front and centre.
Antoinette will stand alongside women leaders across the Oceanic Pacific region, including an incredible cohort of First Nations speakers and panelists, sharing the truth of our experiences and the strength of our solutions in front of a global audience of thousands of people.
For decades, Aboriginal women have led the work to end violence, strengthen community safety, and transform systems that were never designed for us. Our leadership is grounded in lived experience, cultural knowledge and an unwavering commitment to justice. Women Deliver 2026 is an opportunity to bring these voices to the forefront of global conversations on gender equality and highlight the importance of self-determination and culture identity for Aboriginal women.
This is more than representation, it is recognition of the power, expertise and leadership Aboriginal women bring to shaping a safer future for our communities.
To Aboriginal women and young leaders: your voice matters. Your leadership matters.
🔗 Explore the speakers and learn more about #WD2026: https://womendeliver.org/wd2026/speakers/
Sisters Day Out is coming to Wodonga! ✨💖✨💖✨
Come and hear all about Djirra’s services and programs, along with the opportunity to connect with other local services on the day. We will also have cultural and well-being activities for you to join in and enjoy.
All registered participants will receive a show bag and t-shirt.
💖 Tuesday 24th March
💖 9.30am - 3.00 pm
💖 The Cube, 118 Hovell Street, Wodonga
💖 Morning tea & lunch provided
Register at link in bio before Wednesday 18th March.
While many celebrated International Women’s Day on Sunday with the theme “Balancing the Scales”, we must remember and not ignore the fact that the scales are not only unbalanced for Aboriginal women, they are disproportionally tipping against us.
The ongoing impacts of colonisation and systemic racism continue to harm us – we see lives lost, children taken and families destroyed.
It is unacceptable that Aboriginal women nationally, are 69 times more likely to be hospitalised with a head injury due to violent assault, and 11 times more likely to die from violent assault, than other women.
Right here in our state - Victoria, our women are:
• 45 times more likely to experience family violence
• 21 times more likely to be imprisoned
• 11 times more likely to have police use force against them
• 23 times more likely to have their children removed – almost double the national average.
These are not just statistics - behind these number are women - our mothers, nurtures, leaders and keepers of life.
This shows us how far we still have to come to change the narrative for Aboriginal women in our country. When Aboriginal women are safe, children and families are safer. It’s time for governments to invest in Aboriginal women’s self-determined solutions.
Djirra CEO @Antoinette_Braybrook AM has said, the metaphor of balancing the scales does not capture the reality for Aboriginal women:
“We cannot balance scales that are built on broken foundations. Justice requires structural reform, self-determination, and systems redesigned with Aboriginal women at the centre.”
Walk alongside Djirra. Share our calls for change. Donate to our life-saving work via link in bio.
#InternationalWomensDay #IWD2026 #BalanceTheScales #AboriginalWomensLivesMatter #WeHaveTheSolutions
