It was a day that changed a little girl’s life.
She cannot be named in order to protect her identity but C1, as she is referred to in court documents, was around seven years old when she was taken to a house in Wollongong, south of Sydney, and instructed to lie on a bed naked from the waist down while her clitoris was mutilated with a metal instrument.
The same procedure would be performed on her sister two years later.
While three people found guilty over these offences await the outcome of a home detention assessment, new research due to be published this week reveals FGM may occur more frequently in Australian than previously thought.
Elizabeth Elliott, a Professor in Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Sydney, is part of a team who surveyed Australian paediatricians on their experiences with FGM in Australian children.
Of 1311 surveyed, 497 responded.
"About 50 per cent of them said that they believe FGM was performed in Australia," Ms Elliott said.
"Ten per cent had actually seen FGM in children under the age of 18 in their practice.
"And in the last five years, nearly 60 cases were reported to us," she said.
"So we know that it exists in Australia. Some of those clinicians were actually asked if they could perform the procedure. Others were asked if they knew where they could have it performed."
The survey findings are expected to be published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect this week.
'Beware of false accusations'
Female Genital Mutilation is a broad title for a number of procedures that involve the cutting and stitching of female genitalia.
The cultural practice occurs in at least 30 countries, despite being widely condemned as a human rights violation.
Despite the survey, some who work closely with families who have migrated to Australia from communities that traditionally practice FGM remain skeptical that it’s being inflicted on girls growing up here.
A spokesperson for the Royal Women’s Hospital in Victoria, which has a dedicated FGM clinic, told SBS via email they had "not seen any evidence" of recent cutting in underage girls currently living in Australia.
Adele Murdolo, Executive Director of the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health in Victoria, also points to a lack of evidence, and warns a focus on hidden cases could unfairly stigmatise some communities.
"It is important to act on the evidence we have available, rather than to generalise across communities on the basis of individual cases," she told SBS.
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"Making assumptions about whole communities on the basis of a handful of cases can cause harm to the women and children in communities because it can lead to false accusations, stereotyping and stigmatisation," she said.
Cathy Vaughan, a Lecturer in Gender and Women’s Health in the Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, believes the case in NSW remains an isolated incident.
"I don’t think it's on as large a scale as perhaps some people fear," she said.
"The work I've done working closely with communities that traditionally practice FGM suggests there's been a real generational change in attitude, so younger women certainly aren't supportive of the practice."
But FGM survivor and activist Khadija Gbla believes there are more cases going unreported and undocumented in Australia.
She runs not-for-profit organisation 'No FGM Australia' which provides services to other survivors and those at risk. Ms GBLA says her organisation regularly hears anecdotal stories through their work in communities where FGM is traditionally practiced.
"It is important to act on the evidence we have available, rather than to generalise across communities on the basis of individual cases."
“Women who already have gone through FGM… and their need to hold onto their culture means they’re putting their daughters through FGM as well – and they’re not necessarily taking their daughters overseas, they are finding people right here in our own backyard to do it for them,” she says.
The claims are hard to independently verify. Apart from rare anecdotes, there is little data available on prevalence rates in Australia.
However, data collected by British authorities and reported in the Guardian newspaper in 2015 noted that , despite it also being illegal there.
Ms Gbla acknowledges the secrecy and lack of data around the practice are major challenges for those working to end it.
“This is so protected and so insular, the only reason we are finding out about it is because people like me, out of the community, are saying, hold on, we need to talk about this,” she said.
“They may not be able to tell us the names, because people are very, very scared, but they are able to tell us that things are going on.”
'National approach needed'
Almost everyone SBS interviewed for this story supported calls for a national approach to FGM in Australia and greater government funding.
Cathy Vaughan, from the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, noted the need for a coordinated effort.
“I think it’s important there is a coordinated effort across, within states, but also across jurisdictions, and that’s something that has been challenging in the past.
Adele Murdolo of the Melbourne-based Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health says there are gaps in the funding for FGM-related health and education programs.
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“Coverage across Australia is inconsistent, and hasn’t necessarily kept up with changing demographics within each state or territory,” she said.
“We have been particularly concerned that there are some communities that have not yet been reached with currently stretched programs.”
FGM survivor Khadija Gbla would like to see it included in mandatory notification training for those who work with children.
“The law recognises it as child abuse, but yet no mandatory notification training includes FGM,” she said.
“So how then, the very workers we’re hoping and we’re saying should protect children, are not aware of a particular form of child abuse?”
“Show them what the risk factors as, how to recognise a child at risk and then what to do in that case.
“Certainly, we need to frame the conversation around FGM as a human rights issue. Take it away from the cultural context.”
