Child Sex Abuse Royal Commission Urged to Investigate Bathurst's "Dark History"
By Gavin Coote
There are mounting calls for a public hearing into child sex abuse in the central west New South Wales city of Bathurst. The St Stanislaus boarding school has been at the centre of shocking allegations, which have led to protracted criminal court cases. Last month, Father Brian Spillane, who has been serving 11 years for sexually assaulting students, was sentenced to a further nine years in jail for yet more sexual assaults at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst. After years of investigations and court cases involving Spillane, some of the survivors and their families came together at forum in the city last night. Among those was former St Stanislaus student and sex abuse survivor Damien Sheridan, who was abused by Spillane in 1985 and had not been back to the city in years. He said he was glad he finally returned to Bathurst to discuss ways he and other survivors could gain closure. "I came here to see what the community had to say and the community is horrified, they're disgusted with what's gone on in this college," Mr Sheridan said. "And this is one of the biggest schools in Bathurst, in the central west, you know people send their students from Bourke, Broken Hill to this school." Survivors, families band together for justice Carole Nielsen, whose son Tor was also abused by Spillane, is leading efforts to get justice for survivors and their families and said the forum was the first step. "There's nothing worse than seeing a child suffer and not being able to step in and help, and not being able to talk to other people and discuss it with other people," she said.
"So this has been like a bit of a community fusion that's very uplifting and very powerful, because when people get together, they can shift mountains." St Stanislaus College is preparing to make a formal apology in June, as part of its 150th anniversary commemorations. But Mr Sheridan said the apology meant little when the broader issue of sexual abuse in Bathurst remained unexamined by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. "I mean who are they doing that for? They're not doing that for me," he said. Mr Sheridan said only a royal commission hearing would help provide closure, and he would not settle for anything less. "They haven't even offered to give back the school fees, I didn't get an education — what sort of education did I get at that school?" Bathurst continues to escape scrutiny: Greens MP The child abuse royal commission has said with its obligation to report by December this year, it was unlikely that Bathurst institutions would be the subject of a public hearing. In a statement to the ABC, it said a major consideration in deciding whether to hold a public hearing was whether there were ongoing criminal cases that could be prejudiced. But NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said he did not understand why Bathurst continued to escape scrutiny when there had been case studies on other regional centres. "I suppose the question that needs to be asked is, well what's different about Bathurst?" Mr Shoebridge said. "It's a regional town which has a pretty dark history and until that history is fully explored the real concern is that it won't have learnt the lessons of history and we won't be protecting kids going into the future. "But that's not a full and satisfactory explanation, I think the people of Bathurst, the victims and the survivors deserve a better explanation." Mr Shoebridge has vowed to push for a public hearing in the city, even if that meant a special commission of inquiry. "The best and the most immediate vehicle is the royal commission that's currently existing, but if we don't get that we won't leave it unresolved, it will happen."
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