Allegations of Records Missing from Boys" Home St Albans Ahead of Abuse Inquiry
By Giselle Wakatama
A retired police officer has alleged decades of documents have been destroyed or gone missing from a New South Wales Anglican boys' home, which is expected to be the focus of an upcoming royal commission. The St Albans boys' home is expected to be part of a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse case study looking at abuse allegations in Newcastle's Anglican diocese. The lack of documentation has raised alarm bells with retired 20-year police veteran Greg Harding. Mr Harding pursued convicted paedophile and ex-St Albans board member James Michael Brown, who abused 20 boys. Brown is currently serving a minimum 12-year jail sentence. Speaking for publicly for the first time, Mr Harding told the ABC his investigations showed decades of documents were either missing or destroyed. "I found it very unusual that in any day and age there were no records pertaining to a boys' home with how it operated, who went there, and the details of what occurred there. No minutes, no nothing," Mr Harding said. Newcastle Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson has told the ABC he will not shy away from the gravity of the allegations. "There's no accommodation any more for criminal behaviour," he said. "So we are preparing our house, we're preparing for the harsh realities of the failures of care for children and vulnerable people in the past. "We're preparing our stories that will come through the royal commission." Boys' home a dark place for abuse survivor The home operated in four locations in the New South Wales Hunter Valley from 1920. It closed 30 years ago but allegations of abuse have dogged it ever since. An abuse survivor, who asked to be known as John, told the ABC the home was a dark place he would like to forget. "You had sexual abuse, you had physical abuse and you had mental abuse," John said. "Apart from the religious bullshit that was thrown down our necks and how good they were [morally], the sexual advances were put on us."
John said he was abused at St Albans when the home was based in the Newcastle suburb of Mayfield in the 1960s. He alleged he had been passed around between clergy members and lay people. "There were people who were somehow connected with the congregations, because I was billeted out one Christmas I think and I was manipulated in the bed," he said. But there is little in John's records outlining his history at the home. "They [the records] were that thin. There's nothing of my school life," he said. "There's nothing of anything, any description of my health, of my visits to a doctor or anything like that, nothing." Missing records raise alarm bells for retired detective Mr Harding said he had been relentless in his pursuit for records, but had found nothing. "We certainly looked for documents in relation to it, but in all my searches nothing turned up regarding who went through and actually who managed the homes or who had control of the boys," he said. Late Anglican priest Peter Rushton, acknowledged by the church as a prolific paedophile, had links to board members such as Brown. Father Rushton was so revered his ashes were buried under the pulpit of his local church, but were removed when confirmation of his paedophilic activity surfaced. Mr Harding said he had suspicions about Father Rushton's association with the home. "Certainly his name did pop up and certainly there was evidence to indicate that Brown knew Rushton quite well," he said. An architects sketch of St Albans Aberdare which operated 1964-1980.
Greens say records have fallen into black hole Greens MP David Shoebridge said the culture at St Albans had been horrific, with the abuse only exacerbated by the lack of records. Mr Shoebridge said it was hard to believe documents had disappeared. He said the royal commission must examine how they vanished without a trace. "To find that all the records at St Albans have fallen literally into a black hole, then you have to ask yourself, what are the circumstances in which those documents were lost or destroyed," Mr Shoebridge said. Lawyer and abuse survivor Peter Kelso said he was not surprised about the missing records. "A number of institutions that I have taken on, so many case's records have been lost, and they blame floods and fires and all sorts of natural phenomenon," he said. "This is simply a measure of the arrogance of these people who think they are beyond the law, and think that they can just destroy records to protect the primacy and reputation of their church." Diocese says some St Alban records remain Newcastle's Anglican Diocese has told the ABC it still retains some historical records from the home. The diocese said, "There is no evidence of records from the home being disposed of as part of any attempt to destroy evidence in cases of abuse". But Mr Shoebridge is not so sure. "If there's any culpability at all in anyone destroying records to save the organisation's reputation, I think that should be seen as very clear and dangerous criminal conduct," he said. The diocese said the records that it did have from St Albans had been made available to police and the royal commission. Claims high profile people involved in paedophile networks The royal commission is expected to hear claims about paedophile networks operating in the Hunter, involving high profile people such as politicians, lawyers and community leaders. Newcastle's Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson.
Bishop Thompson, who is himself an abuse survivor, has apologised to victims ahead of the royal commission. He said it was time for the truth to come out. "To you who have experienced abuse, I want you to know as a diocese we feel shame and profound regret that people within the church harmed you, and harmed you again when you came forward to speak of what had happened," he said. The diocese said it encouraged any people who had knowledge of or were affected by abuse to contact the police, the royal commission, or the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle's Professional Standards Director. The royal commission will sit in Newcastle for two weeks from August 2.
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