Abused boys at Eden Park Salvation Army home were threatened if they complained

By Tory Shepherd
Advertiser
September 12, 2016

http://goo.gl/AEqB3v

The Commission found many boys never reported their abuse because they were threatened.

The commission investigated incidents at the home between 1940 and 1980 and in its report released on Monday, found the Salvation Army had failed to protect children in its care.

According to the report, a seven-year-old was raped by older boys and staff, boys were locked up in small windowless spaces, thrashed, sexually abused and then threatened if they spoke up.

Graham Rundle was abused more than 200 times after he was put into the home at age seven.

After his arrival at Eden Park Boys’ Home, he was raped by between seven and nine boys, at least twice a week. He told an employee, William John Keith Ellis, because he was bleeding badly. That’s when Mr Ellis started abusing him.

Other South Australians described a culture of humiliation, bullying, physical and sexual abuse.

A 1963 memorandum said boys were heard screaming at night and their sheets were bloodstained in a way that suggested “sexual malpractices”.

The Commission found many boys never reported their abuse “because they did not think there was anyone to tell, they did not think they would be believed, or they were threatened with physical harm”.

“Other former residents gave evidence that they were threatened with physical harm if they did report their abuse, or that they attempted to report their abuse to the officers and employees of The Salvation Army but they were not believed and were accusing of telling lies,” according to the report.

“We are also satisfied that some former residents were physically punished after telling officers or employees of the Salvation Army about their complaints of sexual abuse and this stopped them from disclosing any further incidents of sexual abuse.”

In its submission, the Salvation Army said the commission had “shone a light on the failures which allowed sexual abuse of children to occur, and to go unpunished in too many cases for too long.”

Territorial Commander Floyd Tidd had said he was “distressed and deeply moved” by the accounts and “profoundly sorry”.

Until 1990, the Salvation Army had no policies on handling complaints of sexual abuse.

The commission found the Army “provided a culture in the institutions in which staff and officers were able to continue their prohibited behaviour” and that other children had been put at risk because of their failures.

Overall, the commission received 572 allegations in relation to 254 institutions in SA.

They had previously heard that Brian Perkins, a bus driver at St Ann’s Special School, was able to work at the school despite previous convictions.