Balwalwanga bhulungs: we are strong women

This study brings forth the voices of fourteen brave and courageous Aboriginal women, from a regional community in New South Wales, who have survived life threatening experiences and extremely traumatic violence. The core of this work was intended to provide a space for Aboriginal women survivors to share their stories, some for the first time, so that their experiences might help other Aboriginal women in similar situations and inform evidence-based practice. The voices of these women speak of the strength to survive and where they are now thriving. The women have shared their personal experiences of violence, the social construction of Aboriginal women, historical and ongoing cumulative effects of trauma, racism, the health implications of violence and racism and intersectional factors that impeded access to service providers for support. This work theorises how Aboriginal women experience violence and racism, while also challenging the western-created ideology that Aboriginal culture is violent and that violence is an Aboriginal way of being. This thesis places Aboriginal women as the knowers and unapologetically centres their voices and stories.