Women reveal alleged assaults near Daylesford after solo hiker raises alarm

Sarah Gibbs was always told to never walk alone in the bush.

But something in her shifted in late December last year when she saw an elderly woman with long grey hair hiking alone through Victoria’s Alpine region. 

“She had this big backpack on, and she said to me, ‘I’ve just done 26 kilometres and camping here,'” Ms Gibbs said.

“And I thought, ‘Wow — this had never even occurred to me.'”

Ms Gibbs decided it was time to embark on her own solo adventure.

She chose her first camping and hiking trip: a 215-kilometre walk along the Goldfields Track in regional Victoria, from Bendigo to Ballarat, and documented her journey online to inspire other women to follow in her footsteps.

Sarah Gibbs documented her trip online to inspire women to get out in the bush. (Supplied: Sarah Gibbs)

At times, she trekked more than 30km a day, pushing through last month’s searing heatwave and enduring temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.

It was not the heat, exhaustion or injury that stopped her in her tracks.

It was something that would stay with her much longer.

‘This is over for me, I’m gone’

Ms Gibbs was nearing Daylesford, about 160km into her trek, when what she thought was a kangaroo jumped out of the bushes near Lake Daylesford.

It was not a roo. 

A man started walking towards her at pace. 

Feeling uneasy, she turned on her phone and started recording.

Ms Gibbs said the man touched her hair and hand, and used sexually explicit language, before attempting to subtly move her off the path and into the nearby bush.

“I felt the hairs on the back of my neck [stand up],” she said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever come that close to knowing this is over for me, I’m gone.”

Sarah Gibbs alleges she was assaulted on the Goldfields Track in regional Victoria. (Supplied: Sarah Gibbs)

Ms Gibbs’s survival instincts kicked in.

She said she tried to placate the man and encouraged him to walk further until they reached a nearby campsite.

She then sprinted away while he was distracted and called police.

But she said the officer she spoke to told her there was little they could do. Four hours later, an officer offered to “swing by” Lake Daylesford, but by then she had moved on.

“He [the police officer] said, ‘If you want to go back on that track, use your wits … If you see him, call us back straight away,”’ she said.

“The police did absolutely nothing … Does it take for a man to actually [commit a crime] for you to do something?”

The road ahead

Ms Gibbs continued her hike, determined not to let the man ruin what she set out to achieve.

She appealed for information about the man on social media and was astounded by how many women responded.

“It just went insane,” she said.

“The next day I contemplated if I should go back on the trail, but I didn’t want him to win and have all the power over me.”If you or anyone you know needs help:Police – 000 (triple-zero)1800 Respect National Helpline: 1800 737 732Lifeline on 13 11 14Men’s Referral Service: 1300 766 491Women’s Crisis Line: 1800 811 811Full Stop Australia: 1800 FULL STOP/1800 385 578 (National Violence and Abuse Trauma 
Counselling and Recovery Service)Rainbow Sexual, Domestic and Family Violence Helpline on 1800 497 212

In a statement, a Victoria Police spokesperson said it conducted “a thorough investigation”. 

“However, no criminal offence was detected,” a spokesperson said. 

“A senior police officer phoned the woman in following days to check on her welfare and offer support.” 

Ms Gibbs said the police never took a statement, despite two phone calls and an in-person visit. 

Multiple women come forward

Ms Gibbs said multiple women reached out to confirm they had also had similar experiences with a man on the trail near Daylesford. 

Daylesford shop owner Jo Sheppard said she saw Ms Gibbs’s post online and alleged a man matching the description had assaulted a woman outside her store last year.

“I grabbed [the female victim] and pulled her into our shop … she went into Coles, and apparently he followed her around Coles,” Ms Shephard said. 

“And then the next thing I knew police contacted us to get a statement.”

Ms Sheppard said just a few weeks earlier, her daughter was also harassed by a man of the same description on the town’s main street.

“It is disgusting that he’s allowed to predate still,” she said.

“What does it take? Who’s the next victim? How far will he take it?”

Calls for early intervention

Bianca Fileborn, who researches sexual and gender-based violence at The University of Melbourne, said incidents like this often fell into gaps in the system.

Dr Fileborn said many women reported some level of harassment to police and were often told nothing could be done.

Bianca Fileborn says early intervention measures need to be introduced. (Supplied: Bianca Fileborn)

“Victim survivors still aren’t always taken seriously [by police], and the response from police is not always appropriate,” she said. 

“We do need to be looking at avenues for early intervention, before it escalates to criminal forms of behaviour.”

She said earlier intervention could prevent matters from turning into the worst-case scenarios. 

“It might be things like expanding the availability of men’s support services, and counselling, and therapeutic support to help them stop,” Dr Fileborn said.

“Even in this case where it has been reported to police, I think a reasonable response might have been for police to at least go and speak to this man.”

Patty Kinnersly is the CEO of advocacy group Our Watch. (Supplied: Our Watch)

Our Watch Chief Executive Patty Kinnersly said violence against women could be prevented.

“That means taking women’s safety concerns seriously, investing in prevention, and challenging the attitudes and behaviours that allow violence and harassment to persist,” she said.

“According to data from Quantum Market Research, 75 per cent of women feel unsafe when walking through the city alone at night, compared to 45 per cent of men.

“That shows that, no matter where women are, they are wary, concerned and vigilant for threats of violence.”

In response, Victorian Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said new reforms were passed last week “to strengthen women’s safety and deliver a justice system that better protects and supports victim-survivors”. 

She said changes to the stalking offence would allow people at risk to seek protection from the justice system. 

The state government is also commissioning a perpetrator study to learn more about high-risk and repeat perpetrators.

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