This story contains descriptions of violence and abuse.

NATASA CHRISTIDOU’S EARLIEST memory is of her father Peter masturbating over her as she lay in bed. It was December 1971. She was not quite three years old. Her mother Ruby was in hospital, having given birth to her sister Helen. Natasa and her year-old sister Anna were in Peter’s care in the family home in Alfred Street, Richmond, Melbourne. As her father wiped his penis across Natasa’s mouth, she felt ‘something wet’ splash on her lips, and thought he had ‘pooed’ on her. Later, when the family visited Ruby in hospital, the girls were placated with stuffed toys: a red dog for Natasa; a blue dog for Anna.