1. Rosemary Anne "Rosie" Batty was born on 1962 and is an Australian domestic violence campaigner.
25 Facts About Rosie Batty
1. 2.
Rosie Batty became a campaigner in 2014, after her 11-year-old son Luke Batty was murdered by his father, Greg Anderson.
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In 2016, then prime minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull said of domestic violence in Australia that "cultural change requires a great advocate, and Rosie Batty has been able to do that in a way that I think nobody has done before".
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Rosie Batty was named Australian of the Year in 2015 and appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2019.
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Rosie Batty was born in England and raised on a farm in Laneham in the English county of Nottinghamshire by her father along with her three brothers.
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When Rosie Batty was six years old her mother died, and she was raised by nannies and her maternal grandmother.
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Rosie Batty settled in Australia in 1988 on a partner visa following an initial visit in 1986.
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Rosie Batty met Anderson in 1992 when they worked together at a recruitment company and the two began a romantic relationship that lasted two years.
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Rosie Batty claimed she never planned to have a child, given her lifelong fear of loss, and that her son was an accident.
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Rosie Batty claimed that Anderson's abuse began shortly after they met and increased when she fell pregnant.
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Rosie Batty has expressed that Anderson was a loving father to Luke and she defended his right to have contact with their son.
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Rosie Batty struggled to maintain a job and a place to live and has been described by those who knew him as unstable, manipulative and aggressive.
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From June 2004 until February 2014, Rosie Batty made numerous allegations that Anderson physically assaulted and threatened to kill her, leading to a number of arrests, charges and intervention orders.
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Rosie Batty was not aware of these events at the time and was not made aware due to privacy laws.
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Rosie Batty later died in hospital from police gunshots and self-inflicted stab wounds.
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Rosie Batty began speaking publicly about her experience after addressing the media the morning after Luke's murder.
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Rosie Batty became an advocate for domestic violence survivors and victims, and sought to address perceived systemic failures in responses to domestic violence in Australia.
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Rosie Batty has spoken about a lack of communication between services, about public perceptions of domestic violence, about a lack of funding, and about police and legal procedures that she felt disempowered her ability to protect herself and her son.
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In 2014, Rosie Batty established the Luke Rosie Batty Foundation to assist women and children affected by domestic violence.
20.
Rosie Batty's story was instrumental in the establishment in 2015 of the Royal Commission into Family Violence in her home state of Victoria.
21.
On 16 February 2018, Rosie Batty announced that she would step down as the chief executive of the Luke Rosie Batty Foundation, and eventually shut down the foundation.
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Rosie Batty was awarded the Pride of Australia's National Courage Medal in 2014, appointed 2015 Australian of the Year, awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of the Sunshine Coast, and was ranked number 33 in the list of the World's Greatest Leaders 2016 by Fortune magazine.
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In 2015 she was the subject of a portrait by Jacqui Clark named Meeting Rosie Batty, which was selected for the 2015 Portia Geach Memorial Award.
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In October 2018 Rosie Batty was named in the social enterprise and not-for-profit category of The Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence awards.
25.
On 10 October 2023, Rosie Batty was one of 25 Australians of the Year who signed an open letter supporting the Yes vote in the Indigenous Voice referendum, initiated by psychiatrist Patrick McGorry.