'Horrifically ironic': Women's history tour harassed

At 2pm on Sunday, nine women and young girls gathered at Wollongong Lighthouse for a She Shapes History walking tour to learn about past heroines, such as pioneering Aboriginal activist Pearl Gibbs. Instead they were confronted by a modern-day problem: a group of boys on e-bikes who encircled and shouted at the women. 

“There was about 30 of them in total,” said Lua Jones, a Helensburgh mother of two, who was on the tour because of her interest in women’s history, feminism and empowerment.

“They were hurling abuse of ‘lesbians’ and ‘bisexuals’ and ‘old hags’. It was misogynistic.”

Lua found it both “intimidating and overwhelming”, with the e-bikers riding close, revving and carving up the grass.

Jane Jukes, who was on the outing with her 16-year-old daughter, thinks their all-women group stood out among the usual crowd enjoying a Sunday stroll around the lighthouse. 

“Lindsay [the guide] was wearing the She Shapes History pink T-shirt, and we were obviously talking about something. The boys had detected something ‘other’ in us, and that made it more fun to disrupt what we were doing," Jane said.

“They were mostly around the 12 to 13 age group. They started circling us, some of them driving their e-bikes really close to us.”

One girl – who has seen plenty of bad behaviour on school trains – was particularly distressed when the boys came near and touched a group member: “I was just kind of trying to encourage the group to try and ignore them as best we could," the schoolgirl said.

"Stick together, just stand super-close to each other. Don't look at them, don't film them, none of that. 

“Even though it's crucial to confront people, the aggressor, in that situation, I think, just particularly with these boys – and with previous encounters – usually ignoring and keeping your head down and showing no acknowledgement does [work], eventually they get bored.

“I was hearing awful slurs, you know, homophobic slurs, racial slurs, and sexist slurs, like from all of them all at once. They were saying the N word quite a lot. It was awful.”

Jane said: “I felt threatened, but I didn't, in my heart, think that they were going to attack us. Some of the group felt absolutely terrified, and there were people crying and really upset.”

The group tried to move away but the e-biker riders followed. Phones were drawn on both sides, but Jane said the women were determined not to flare up and give the boys the footage they were “clearly after”. It was a “Lord of the Flies” moment for the screen age, she said.

The encounter lasted for 15 to 20 minutes, until one woman called the police. The boys started to disperse and the group walked away to continue their tour.

A NSW Police spokesperson yesterday confirmed that Wollongong Police District officers responded to reports of e-bike riders harassing people on Marine Drive at about 2.20pm on Sunday. "Police patrolled the area; however, both groups were unable to be located," the spokesperson said. On Monday, the incident was reported to Helensburgh Police Station.

'Clear example' of manosphere, says CEO

Nothing like this has ever happened on a She Shapes History tour, said CEO Sita Sargeant, who founded the social enterprise in Canberra in 2021, then expanded to Sydney and Melbourne, before launching a Wollongong branch last November.

“We gather peacefully every single tour,” Sita said. “I don't think I would have imagined that something like this would have happened in Australia.

“If you do not feel comfortable gathering in a public space to hear women’s stories, god help us – where can we go from here?

“We are having a conversation about the manosphere, but no one has that much hard evidence. This is such a clear example of how these online spaces are shaping how people show up in the real world and shaping behaviour.

"Just to see [the film footage of] 20 young boys surrounding a group of middle-aged mums is pretty confronting.”

The incident is symptomatic of a broader disrespect for women, Sita said. “It doesn't feel like we're respecting women any more than we were a decade ago, or 100 years ago – we're having the same conversations.

“That’s why I started the tourism, that's why I think the tours are really resonating with people. This fundamental lack of respect for women is clearly a global issue, but I think it's one that requires a hyper-local solution.”

To prevent further incidents, She Shapes History will cut back to mornings-only events. “So that we can work to the sleep schedules of teenage boys, who would be sleeping at 10am when we usually run our tours,” Sita said.

“It's been this real sharp reminder that we're not living in this feminist utopia where women are just able to be.”

Sita employs three part-time guides in Wollongong and Sunday's clash has only made them more determined, she said.

“As a team we've gone, this is why we do this. Because women are made to feel unsafe and unwelcome in the cities that they live in – that is why we show up and share these stories.”

'How do we talk to our boys?'

Helensburgh mum Jane – who tried to engage the e-biker leaders in conversation – thinks the boys were taunting them to generate ‘viral’ content for social media.

As a mother of four, including two boys, she’s uncertain about the best way forward.

“How do we talk to our boys, and what can we put in place to prevent this level of disconnection and lack of empathy and this behaviour?” Jane said. “How do we coach our young people to deal with this kind of situation. I honestly don't know what the best advice is.

“I hate that idea of – for me, personally – feeling like the only option is to shut down and to not respond. To not give them the Instagram fodder, or risk that that I'm going to be shamed online later if I have a perfectly reasonable reaction to being threatened.”

A schoolgirl on the tour, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the e-bikes allowed the boys to “line up”, “move together as one unit” and have a getaway vehicle at the press of a button. “If these kids had no mode of transport, no vehicles or anything, they wouldn't have at all approached us. It would be less intimidating, it's less gang-like for them.”

Jane agreed the bikes were used “to physically intimidate”.

“It felt very much like they were weaponised in that way and, of course, they were emboldened by the fact that they had this big piece of heavy machinery that they could then use at any point to disappear.”

Women keep calm, carry on

Lua praised their tour guide, Lindsay.

“She dealt with the whole thing brilliantly. We were all a bit shaken up, but she carried on and was very professional.

“It was horrifically ironic, and made me feel like digging my heels in further around feminism, and the need not to be complacent around the need for women to be able to take up space and feel safe – all the things exactly that this whole tour was about.”

Jane said: “We did manage to have a joke about what a brilliant set-up that was for our tour, and we thanked Lindsay for arranging this special display to really get us into the right mindset.”

One story, of Hilda Gertrude Condon, an Illawarra Hotel publican from the 1930s, made a strong impression. “She was this amazing, larger than life, glamorous character, who was known as the Blue Wren of the Illawarra,” Jane said.

“She would not have put up with that. If she knew how to handle all the rowdy sailors that were coming into Wollongong at the time, she would have sorted those boys out for sure.”

Next steps

Lua has started a conversation, sharing Sunday's incident on Helensburgh's Facebook group. “I think these changes start small, and they ripple out.

“Helensburgh is one of the best places in Australia, probably, to grow up. It's just a fantastic community.” 

However, Lua said even her home town has had trouble with kids on e-bikes. “They've been damaging businesses, signposts, and things like that. They've set fire to a sofa, which could have caused a bushfire.

“I would like to see some of the men of the Illawarra step up and do more things that can help young men, because ultimately they need role models."

Lua also supports programs such as nature camps that bring teens together and address behavioural problems. “I don't believe in the shame and punishment mentality,” she said.

“What's causing this performative masculinity…  that they want to humiliate people for their humour. Why do that? I think the roots of it are systemic, I think they're cultural… that's where education is important.”

As She Shapes History CEO, Sita now plans to write to the NSW Minister for Education Prue Car and Federal Minister for Education Jason Clare.

“I would like to see women's history in the curriculum, positive masculinity workshops in schools – I would love to see this leading to something positive.”

She’d even like to invite the boys on a tour.

Ultimately, Sita hopes the incident will spark a long-needed national conversation. 

And maybe the past is a place to start.

“The thing that I love about the women of Wollongong is that they're bloody relentless,” Sita said. “I think much more so than any other tour that we run in Australia, I would describe the women of Wollongong as tough as nails, and women who just do not give up.

“The women who have shaped that city didn't back down, and I think that’s a great lesson – we're not going to back down from this fight against the increasing rise of misogyny in the manosphere.”

How to report an incident to NSW Police

Report non-urgent incidents to a local police station or to the Police Assistance Line on 131 444.

In an emergency, call Triple Zero (000).