Sarah Gibbs wanted to show women that they were just as capable of trekking alone as men.
The psychology student, 30, had watched men’s YouTube videos on overnight hiking, and had seen much older women bush camping alone.
She decided to film her first multi-night trek to show other young women it was wrong to assume that, because of the risk, “there are lots of things men can do that we can’t”. She chose the 210-kilometre Goldfields Track from Bendigo to Ballarat.
What happened after she had walked 160 kilometres through bushfire smoke and extreme heat has caused such an outpouring of fury from women in Daylesford that some believe they must take safety into their own hands.
“I’ve been an avid day hiker all my life,” Gibbs said. “I would go to really remote areas and hike, and all these women would say to me, ‘Oh, is that safe?’ I would literally say, ‘Yeah, I’ve never felt safer.’”
But while on a single-lane track near Daylesford on January 27, Gibbs heard what sounded like “something falling down a cliff or like someone was sliding down” behind her.
Soon after, on a water stop, she saw a man jogging down the track towards her. He sat next to her, started asking questions and placed his hand on the underside of her thigh while pretending to admire her shoes.
Gibbs said he touched her hair, grabbed her hand and held it to his face, and used sexually explicit language such as, “Do you want to f— a prince?”
When he grabbed her hand, Gibbs said, “his whole demeanour and face just went blank; it scared me to death. I felt, ‘Oh my god, this is it, this is the end.’”
He stuck to her side when she got up and was “swaying into” her so heavily on the narrow track that “it felt like he was contemplating if he could nudge me into the bush”.
Gibbs recorded what she could with her camera at her side and cajoled him as she diverted towards Lake Daylesford. When he stopped to rifle through others’ belongings at a campsite, she sprinted off. She reached the lake terrified and shaking.
‘Are police seriously interviewing people outside a pub and saying, “Good luck, take care”?’
Daylesford woman Tessa Gardiner, on the police response to Sarah Gibbs
Gibbs called police intending to make a statement that she expected would lead to the man (whose image she captured) being spoken to by police. She told them he was still in the area and knew her intended route.
When an officer met her about three hours later, she said, he asked to see her footage in the busy street outside the pub but did not take a statement, a response that has outraged women in the region.
They say that, especially given high-profile attacks on women exercising alone, police should have acted.
Sexual Assault Services Victoria chief executive Kathleen Maltzahn, said that without early intervention such as Gibbs had hoped for, perpetrators are often emboldened.
“We know that getting away with less clearly criminal acts gives men permission to go on to escalate their behaviour,” she said. “The message should have been, “You have absolutely done the right thing. We are extremely concerned and will take this seriously.’”
Gibbs said the officer told her: “There’s not much we can do. Keep your wits about you and if you see him again on the track, call us back.”
Concerned that no statement had been taken, she posted on a Daylesford Facebook page hoping to learn if the man was local and whether she risked another encounter. Her post drew ABC media attention in Ballarat, and when it was shared on Daylesford pages, dozens of women reported similar experiences.
Daylesford shop owner Jo Sheppard told the ABC she had to pull a woman into her store for safety after a man matching the description allegedly assaulted her on the street. Sheppard alleged he had also harassed her daughter in the main street, and said she had made a police statement.
Victoria Police issued a media statement on February 12 stating that a thorough investigation had been conducted into Gibbs’ incident and no offence was detected. After a public outcry police have since shown some renewed interest.
Daylesford woman Tessa Gardiner said dissatisfaction with the police response had grown so high that she would establish a private local Facebook group for women to share information to protect themselves.
“[Gibbs’ story] just blew up so fast: there were so many other stories, it just felt like we could all identify with that post straight away,” Gardiner said. “There’s a sadness about the response she received from the local police. I wouldn’t even classify it as mediocre – it sounds like a failure of policing. Are they seriously interviewing people outside a pub and saying, ‘Good luck, take care’?”
Local resident Liv Brown said she had recently bought hiking gear planning to walk the Goldfields Track, but that Gibbs’ experience and its handling had discouraged her from going alone. She has offered to help Gardiner create the safety page.
Sissy Austin, also a local, was attacked and knocked unconscious with a rock by a man who was never found, while she was jogging in Lal Lal State Forest in February 2023. She invited Gibbs to speak on February 15 at a local rally for her national movement to raise awareness of assaults on women exercising outdoors, Take Back the Track.
Austin timed the annual event to mark the anniversary of incidents including the attack that left her with shocking facial injuries.
Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas spoke at the Castlemaine Take Back the Track event with Gibbs and Austin. Gibbs said she was grateful that Thomas offered her help to have a statement taken.
Thomas told this masthead that every woman, girl and gender diverse Victorian should be able to feel safe and enjoy the environment without fear. That they could not “is really distressing to me”, she said.
Mount Alexander Shire Mayor Toby Hayden, told the rally that Gibbs had been failed by local authorities.
Gibbs said on Friday that after the rally she had been invited to give a police statement, and had gone to Ballarat to do so.
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