- Posted on 9 Oct 2025
- 3 minutes read
What happens when Aboriginal women seek help with domestic and family violence?
Mudgin-Gal Yarns is a five-part series where inner-city Aboriginal women speak openly about the systems meant to protect them: police, government, and services.
The podcast features candid conversations that explore what works, what fails, and what needs to change.
Recorded inside yarning circles at Redfern's Mudgin-Gal Women’s Centre, a community-based Aboriginal service that is managed and staffed by Aboriginal women, the series is hosted by Ashlee Donohue and features voices rarely heard in the national conversation.
Subscribe to the series via your favourite podcasting app: https://pod.link/1844592403
Working with and for Aboriginal women through research
The yarns shared in the podcast were recorded as part of research undertaken by Ashlee Donohue, CEO of Mudgin-Gal, in partnership with Jane Wangmann, Associate Professor at UTS Faculty of Law.
The research documents the lived experiences and needs of women supported by Mudgin-Gal, aiming to inform future policy and law reform, and support funding applications.
The project was guided by Aboriginal women, cultural protocols and Indigenous methodologies – providing women with a space to voice their experiences, to suggest ideas, and to describe visions for ‘what would have made a difference’.
Their stories are at the heart of Donohue and Wangmann’s report Aboriginal women's voices: There’s power in that – Findings from the Mudgin-Gal yarns.
Turning the discussions into a podcast was driven by participants’ desire to make sure that their stories reached more people. One participant, Donna, said, ‘Our voices need to be amplified,’ to which Ashlee added, ‘There’s power in that.’
The podcast offers a chance to listen to Aboriginal women speaking in their own voices, and their views on change – often critically missing in research, government bodies and inquiries.
'What is particularly significant about this project and the methodology adopted in it was its ability to facilitate and support Aboriginal women who might otherwise not be heard in various law reform and policy contexts to tell their stories and speak about their own recommendations for change in their own voice.
'As much as possible this report, and the associated podcasts, have sought to prioritise women’s own voices and accounts – to enable each unique voice to come through.'
– Ashlee Donohue and Jane Wangmann, Aboriginal women's voices: There’s power in that – Findings from the Mudgin-Gal yarns (Report, April 2025)
Mudgin-gal Yarns is produced by UTS Impact Studios. Episodes will be released weekly from 7 October 2025.
- Episode 1, 2 & 3: Inside the four yarning circles
- Episode 4: A tour of Mudgin-Gal, including the weaving group and playgroup
- Episode 5: Larissa Behrendt interviews Ashlee Donohue and Jane Wangmann about their research.