Shar Moore was a typical "good Indian girl" who followed customs and never asked questions, that is, until she was a year out from her arranged marriage.

At just 11 years old and living in Australia, she went back to her birth country for a holiday but couldn’t work out why she was suddenly being fussed over.

It wasn’t until a few years later when she was back home and caught her mother and Australian-born stepfather arguing that she worked out what that holiday and all that fuss really meant.

Shar Moore is now an inspirational speaker giving women purpose. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

She was engaged to an Indian man who was nine years older than her, a tradition far from uncommon.

According to girlsnotbrides.org , about 27 percent of girls in India are married before their 18 th birthday.

Ms Moore was almost one of those statistics until her stepfather, Arthur Keith Philpott, quickly put a stop to it.

"The hierarchy of the family organise for the daughter to be married off. It's how it's done. It's been done for 5000-plus years," the 46-year-old told 9news.com.au.

Shar Moore dancing with her stepfather on her wedding day at Grand Hyatt Hotel Melbourne in 1993. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

"I knew it was going to happen; I just didn't know when. At 11, I didn't really know what engagement meant.

"I was always told to speak when you’re told and don't ask questions."

Ms Moore was born in Thailand to parents of Indian heritage who later split up.

At age four, Ms Moore moved to country Victoria with her mother, Mr Philpott and her brother.

The five-year-old holding her birthday cake at her family's farm in Neerim, South Gippsland, Victoria, in 1976. (Supplied)

When he was 11-years-old, the family – minus Mr Philpott - returned to Thailand for a holiday.

She didn’t know why a party was planned for her – an engagement party that was.

"We went out and got a dress, jewellery and my hair done," she said.

"The attention was never on me until this moment. I was always told 'not to stand out'.

Shar Moore announced as the 2015 winner of the Gold International Stevie Award in New York. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

"It was very much about the boys as they were encouraged to speak up and be the leader of the family."

After returning home to Gippsland, she went to school and told her closest friends she was "engaged".

"I was already being bullied at school because I was Indian with dark hair and dark eyes but when I told a few of my closest friends, they turned on me," Ms Moore said.

At her Australian engagement party when her stepfather learnt the shocking news she was to become a child bride, her life changed.

The entire family - (L to R) Baby Arthur, Mikayla, Alex, Harrison, Roman, Russ, Portia, and Shar in Gipssland for Christmas last year. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

He asked me: "Is this what you want?"

"All these tears started rolling out as in a snap of a finger, this answer changed my life," she said.

"I said 'no' and he said he'd 'take care of it'. I was a year out of moving to Bangkok and getting married.

"It was embarrassing for the family because I spoke up and said 'no'. I was kind of outed."

Shar Moore hugging her stepfather in Thailand. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

When Ms Moore was 17, she met her now husband, Russ on their first day of work together.

She was a receptionist and he was a sales representative at a plastic packaging company.

At age 22, they married and have been happy ever since.

They have three children, Alex, 24, Harrison, 20, and Portia, 14, and two grandsons.

The couple, who have been married for 25 years, adopted Portia from India when she was six days old.

"I wanted to give a girl the life I didn't have," she said.

Shar and Russ Moore in a horse and carriage celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in April this year. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

Russ and Shar Moore raising funds at their charity gala dinner - Where Dreams Come True - in Brisbane in May 2016. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

The inspirational speaker and mentor now educates women across the globe on having a purpose.

She is currently on her "YJuly" road trip tour from the Gold Coast to Wollongong to ask women "what's your Y" and to raise much-needed funds for FFLV - a charity giving girls in India a good start in life.

"Arranged marriage is still common now but a lot more woman are speaking up and are a lot more educated," Ms Moore said.

"One in 100 rural girls in India go to school. The other 99 are married off at age 10, 11 or 12."

The official YJuly day is being celebrated on July 22 where Ms Moore hopes to break a Guinness World Records title of the largest human formation of the letter Y.

Shar Moore (right) with Dr Harbeen Arora being awarded the Woman of the Decade in Personal Leadership in New Delhi in May this year. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)