Fact Sheet: Acquired Brain Injury and Family Violence
Download.Rosanna Robertson’s Remarkable Recovery From Being Shot in the Head – Ray Martin’s “Dark Secrets”

Rosanna Robertson and Ray Martin
In 2007, leaving a pub after an argument, Rosanna Robertson’s then boyfriend pulled a gun and shot her point blank in the back of the head.
After a week in an induced coma, three months in hospital, and six months of rehabilitation in the Brain Injury Unit at Royal Rehab, Rosanna has made a remarkable recovery. She shares her story with Ray Martin, pictured above, on “Dark Secrets: Australia’s Hidden Shame” which airs this Sunday 28th May at 8.30pm, on the PRIME7 network in regional Australia.
Brain Injury Australia is proud to have a played a small part in the production of “Dark Secrets” by introducing Ray and his producers to Rosanna, and her story.
Royal Commission into Family Violence: Summary and Recommendations (2016)
Brain Injury Australia is seeking research collaborators to conduct research on the “prevalence of acquired brain injury among family violence victims and perpetrators”, for the purpose of presenting funding proposals to the “the Victorian Government and other funders”.
This call is in response to Recommendation 171 of the Victorian Royal Commission Into Family Violence.
- “Recommendation 171 advises that the “Victorian Government fund research into the prevalence of acquired brain injury among family violence victims and perpetrators [within two years].”
National Brain Injury Awareness Week 2015
Brain Injury Australia set the theme of the 2015 National Brain Awareness Week: “Women, Family Violence and Acquired Brain Injury.”
“Every week in Australia, one woman is killed as the result of family violence. Every week in Australia, 3 women are hospitalised with a brain injury as a result of family violence.” Nick Rushworth, Executive Officer, Brain Injury AustraliaDownload media release.
Media Coverage on ABC TV of National Brain Injury Awareness Week 2015
The theme of the 2015 National Brain Awareness Week – Women, Family Violence and Acquired Brain Injury – attracted significant media coverage on ABC TV’s “7.30 Report”, including a report by Tracy Bowden in August, 2015:

and a follow-up report by Tracy Bowden in November, 2015:

“The rates of brain injury due to assault among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are around 70 times that of other women,” he says. “In some communities, this kind of violence is just rife, it’s rampant.”Dr. Richard Parkinson, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
Djinders: Vision Statement & Scoping Paper (2016)
In response to ABC TV’s coverage of National Brain Injury Awareness Week in 2015, Djinders, “a group of Aboriginal Women from the Far North Coast, passionate about creating change in our Communities,” convened the NSW Aboriginal Women’s Summit – Women Against Violence – Healing our Country.
The Vision & Scoping Paper outlines Djinder’s campaign on domestic violence against Aboriginal women, and its impact on families, children, and the community.
Fact Sheet: Hospitalised Assault Injuries Among Women and Girls (2017) – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Download.Brain Injury and Family Violence: Research
Learn more.Inquest into the Deaths of Wendy Murphy and Natalie McCormack (2016)
Wendy Murphy (died 2014) and Natalie McCormack (died 2015), both residents of Alice Springs, were Aboriginal women who died of brain injury as a result of domestic violence from their respective partners.
“Domestic violence is a contagion.Download the Inquest Report.In the Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory it is literally out of control. As a Local Court Judge I witness it most days. As the Coroner I see the terrible lives these women endure and their horrifying deaths.
To cast light on the true horror I determined to hold an inquest into two such deaths.”Judge Greg Cavanagh
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