Forbes honours Molly Ticehurst with Mother’s Day walk around lake
A small community in the New South Wales central west has marked Mother’s Day with a walk in memory of Molly Ticehurst, who was allegedly killed by a former partner last month.
Pushing prams and flanked by puppies, families followed the path around Lake Forbes on Sunday. About 400 people gathered, many wearing bright T-shirts with the slogans “#HernameisMolly” and “#Speakup”. They included close friends and family of the 28-year-old.
Daniel Billings is charged with the domestic violence murder of Ticehurst, whose body was found in a home at Forbes in the early hours of Monday 22 April. Billings will appear at Parkes local court on 20 June.
One walker, Leah Smith, said the event was a time to “stop and take care of the important things”.
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“It’s about raising awareness for next week’s women, there are so many [killed] every week, it’s important we start thinking about things differently, to possibly save lives in the future,” she said.
The Forbes shire mayor, Phyllis Miller, told Guardian Australia the event honoured the early childhood educator for her service to the Forbes community.
“Molly was one of our child carers and teachers, she was known broadly across the whole community as a funloving girl, who loved life,” she said.
Addressing the crowd, Miller became emotional as she described a mother loved by the community who had touched the lives of thousands of children.
“We pay tribute to a dedicated educator and an even more dedicated mum,” she said. “It’s fitting and heartbreaking that today is Mother’s Day.”
The walk was organised by the council in partnership with a local mentoring organisation, Boys to the Bush. Cassandra Tyack, the community partnerships coordinator at Boys to the Bush in Forbes, said the walk was a way to ask “What are we all doing together to support those around us?”
Mitch Roylance and his family made the walk to the lake to show support during a “pretty raw” time for the town of about 9,000 people. Roylance, like many Forbes residents, knows the Ticehurst family.
“It’s a small country town spirit, everyone gets in and supports each other,” he said. “When things like this happen in the city you think, ‘Oh, it’s OK, we live out here.’ But then it happens out here, and it’s a real shock to the system.”
“I don’t know what happens behind closed doors in Canberra, and whatever they are doing, but it shouldn’t take as long as it does,” he said, adding: “Big changes need to be made so we know they’re serious about this.”
A fundraiser to support the Ticehurst
family has raised more than $68,000, with cafes, sports clubs and retail stores chipping in to cover the costs of Ticehurst’s funeral and to support her young son.
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