The collective was born of a belief that gender inequality in our community has serious consequences for those women and children who experience violence in their home.

In 1984 the Collective conducted a domestic violence telephone survey. Thirty women rang in to share their stories. They spoke of experiences of frequent abuse. Half the women said they were abused daily, while another third said the abuse was weekly. They reported difficulty finding assistance. Many described community attitudes they felt held them responsible for the violence perpetrated against them.

In 1988 the Collective received funding from the Ministry of Housing to open a domestic violence support centre. The Women’s Resource Information & Support Centre (WRISC) started with four part time support workers in a building in Ballarat East.

At the outset the Collective identified the need to name women’s experience of domestic violence as essential in challenging community attitudes condoning violence against women. They sought to shine a light on the gendered nature of domestic violence. To expose the extent of this abuse and to demand the community condemn it. They put forward a vision of a community in which women and children were safe from violence.

In twenty years working in the domestic violence field WRISC has seen many changes.

The term domestic violence has changed to family violence to more accurately represent the nature of the experience. Family violence can occur in a range of ‘family’ settings and includes male to female partner abuse, abuse of siblings or the elderly, violence between same sex couples, abuse by carers, adolescents abusing parents, or female to male partner violence. It can occur in extended family situations. In the majority of cases family violence is perpetrated by men against their female partners.

In 2007 the organisation changed its constitution to allow for the election of a Board of Governance.