State MP hopeful royal commission sheds light on boys' home's dark past

By Giselle Wakatama
ABC News
July 7, 2016

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-07/state-mp-hopeful-royal-commission-sheds-light-on-boys-homes/7575742

Sonia Hornery said Woodlands boys' home should fall under the Royal Commission's scope.

It is crucial the royal commission into child sexual abuse sheds light on "the dark past of a boys' home" in her electorate, New South Wales Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery says.A Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing will next month examine the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle's response to allegations of abuse, along with abuse at St John's College at Morpeth.

The ABC has learned there will also be a focus on several boys' homes, including Woodlands Boys' Home at Wallsend.

The United Protestant Association (UPA) ran the home for decades, with clergy from different churches believed to have targeted boys there.

Ms Hornery said she had heard disturbing stories about the home, and it too should fall under the royal commission's scope.

"My take on this is that it's taken far too long to have an investigation into Woodlands," Ms Hornery said.

"As a local I have heard stories about totally inappropriate behaviour, and I fear for the young boys who were in vulnerable situations."

Ms Hornery said she was hopeful the royal commission would reveal what went on at the home.

"I'm pleased that it will be publically aired," she said.

"Obviously I hope that the innocent people are also protected, but it is shocking, and it's important that people in our local community recognise that this shouldn't happen again."

Leonie Sheedy, from the survivor support group CLAN, said abuse allegations regarding the Woodlands home were harrowing.

"They had no hope, and I've heard of stories where boys were lined up in the parlours, they knew to stand against the wall waiting to be chosen, and they deliberately put their backs to the wall so that they wouldn't be touched," she said.

Ms Sheedy said she believed an inter-faith paedophile network preyed on boys at the Woodlands home.

"Paedophiles had open slather to these homes," Ms Sheedy said.

"And it's ruined their [victims'] lives. There were not the necessary checks and balances to make sure those boys were being given care and protection."

The United Protestant Association (UPA) in 2013 issued an unreserved apology for the "tragedy" of what occurred to child sex victims at Woodlands.

The association has reiterated that apology to the ABC, and said it believed the late Anglican paedophile priest Peter Rushton may have abused boys at the home.

He has been named as one of the people associated with the diocese who will come under the microscope at next month's hearings.

Other clergy and lay people to be discussed at the hearing include former Newcastle Anglican dean Graeme Lawrence, former music teacher Gregory Goyette, priests Andrew Duncan, Bruce Hoare, Graeme Sturt and Ian Barrack, and church worker James Michael Brown.