The clouds and rain did not hold back silent mourners from gathering at Royal Park at the spot where Courtney Herron was murdered a week after her death.
Maxie (Metaxia) Antoniou, Courtney’s mother, oscillated between feelings of grief and gratitude as she looked on the mountain of flowers and sea of candles growing as a tribute to her daughter. Every so often she would see a friend or relative and burst out into tears. She said “the outpouring of love is unexpected. My baby in life thought people didn’t care, and that people were staring at her. But she is in heaven watching down, saying ‘I am loved’.”
A few metres down, Courtney’s yiayia Connie could not stop crying.
READ MORE: Final farewell to Courtney (Konstandina) Herron on Monday, following Royal Park vigil on Friday
The crowd was made up of people of all ages and from all walks of life, but was dominated by young women who are concerned that women in Melbourne do not feel safe. Courtney is the fourth young woman to be killed in a public place in the city in the last 12 months.
Vigil co-ordinator Jessamy Gleeson called for political action to stop the growing number of deaths. “It’s not that Melbourne has a problem, it’s that Australia has a problem and a lot of places have a problem,” she told reporters.
“The message I want politicians to hear is that we are tired of doing these vigils and there needs to be a big structural change in how we address violence against women.”
READ MORE: Violence against migrant women under spotlight
