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A popular CBD mural honouring the lives of women killed in violent circumstances has been removed from an iconic Melbourne laneway after more than a year.<\/p>\n
The She Matters mural in Hosier Lane appeared on the wall of the Forum theatre and paid tribute to more than 200 women who died across Australia since 2024, including those allegedly killed in acts of family violence and in the massacres at the Bondi Junction shopping centre<\/a> and Bondi Beach<\/a>.<\/p>\n Australian Femicide Watch founder Sherele Moody started the mural and said she was told by the venue\u2019s management that works needed to be carried out on a doorway that had been covered by a section of the memorial. But she was shocked to discover on Friday the entire artwork was removed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like being punched in the heart,\u201d Moody told The Age.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cIt\u2019s just hard to explain how terribly sad it is that it\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Moody said she didn\u2019t think the entire artwork needed to be \u201cerased\u201d because only about one quarter of the poster mural was across the doorway. She vowed to work within any heritage or safety restrictions so it can be reinstated.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who stood down there and listened to conversations around that mural would have understood how important it is in actually getting people to talk about violence, specifically domestic and family violence, and we need to be having more of those conversations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The Marriner Group, which owns the theatre, removed the mural.<\/p>\n Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece said last week the council was made aware that materials used to maintain the mural blocked emergency exits to the Forum, which was a \u201csignificant safety risk\u201d for patrons.<\/p>\n \u201cThe restoration of the theatre comes with operational and heritage considerations and these need to be accounted for,\u201d Reece said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will look to work with the mural\u2019s artists to find a new home for She Matters. We are treating this as a priority, balancing the theatre\u2019s restoration with ensuring the mural remains visible and impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n Michelle Sposito\u2019s daughter, Amy, 26, was among the women honoured on the wall after her death in 2024.<\/p>\n Related Article Sposito said losing the mural was detrimental to the loved ones of every person on it.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough Sherele, I met other parents at the wall, and we all spent time there to look at the people we\u2019d all lost. You can\u2019t stand in front of that wall and just not feel the sadness of the whole thing,\u201d Sposito said.<\/p>\n She said she\u2019d support the memorial being reinstalled at another location in the CBD, \u201cas long as it was in a place that won\u2019t face the same thing that\u2019s happened here\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI was completely shocked [when it was taken down] and I felt devastated that, you know, this was a place where people could go to remember their loved ones as well, like a memorial site,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Marriner Group said it understood the mural\u2019s significance and that its removal was \u201cclearly a sensitive issue\u201d, but that ongoing building rectification works had moved to Hosier Lane.<\/p>\n \u201cHosier Lane has historically been an evolving space where street art comes and goes, however, poster installations are not permitted,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe let the artist know in advance, to give them an opportunity to move or document the installation any further. The duration of these works is currently undefined.\u201d<\/p>\n A She Matters mural was installed in Ballarat in central Victoria earlier this year, including a section specifically honouring local women allegedly killed at the hands of men including Samantha Murphy, Rebecca Young and Hannah McGuire.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Workers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6b35430db595397a9183013ffa9c8a9c71fa4584.jpeg\")
Workers remove the She Matters mural in Hosier Lane, Melbourne.<\/p>\n![\"Graffiti](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776080590_63_4762886a401edc0bf879e68c413d9ecb3db414b8.jpeg\")
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The mural in Hosier Lane before its removal.Joe Armao<\/p>\n![\"Attorney-General](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/49fcd704aecee09b54678118bd2702331acd207e.jpeg\")
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Rachael Ward<\/a> is a journalist in the City team at The Age. Contact her at rachael.ward@theage.com.auConnect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 13, 2026 \u2014 5:58pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-603988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}