A Fence for Solidarity

By Barclay White
Shepparton News
March 25, 2017

http://www.sheppnews.com.au/2017/03/25/80676/a-fence-for-solidarity

A man who was sexually abused as a child by a Marist Brother teacher in Shepparton will return to his former home next week to speak about the challenges facing survivors.

Greg Barclay, 61, was just 13 when he was indecently assaulted by John Skehan at St Colman’s College in Shepparton, which is now Notre Dame College.

After years of being haunted by the attack, Mr Barclay only came forward to the authorities about what Mr Skehan did to him in the past few years.

In 2014 his attacker faced Shepparton Magistrates’ Court, and was handed a suspended sentence for his crimes.

But, to the disappointment of Mr Barclay, the magistrate did not sentence his attacker to any time inside a jail cell.

‘‘They took into account his age and health, I guess that is what it is,’’ Mr Barclay said.

Coming to terms with the abuse has been a challenging process for him.

He discussed coming forward with other former students at the school, and he decided he would not come forward until the death of his mother.

‘‘I knew she (my mother) would have felt like she had let me down,’’ he said.

Despite what he went through in his school days, Mr Barclay dedicated his career to the education system, and is currently the vice-president of TAFE and adult provision with the Australian Education Union.

The uncovering of decades-old child abuse across Australia in recent years, while welcomed, was also a burden for survivors, he said.

‘‘I think all the stuff in the media is fantastic,’’ he said.

‘‘But it’s in the papers, it’s on the news, on a daily basis — myself and every other abuse victim does not get the chance to pretend it never happened.’’

Since coming forward, and the culmination of the court case, he has been involved in the Loud Fence movement.

The movement, which originated in Ballarat, is a way for people to show their solidarity and support for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse by tying a coloured ribbon to a fence.

Mr Barclay has tied Loud Fence ribbons in Florence and at St Peter’s Square in Vatican City, and next week he will tie a ribbon at Notre Dame College.

‘‘It is a reminder that this is part of our past, and also part of our present because the survivors are among us,’’ he said.

Mr Barclay will be in town next week, to speak about support for survivors of child sexual abuse in the Sandhurst Diocese.

The meeting will be held at Shepparton’s Terminus Hotel on Monday, March 27 at 7.30pm.

For more details phone Catherine Dooley on 0488288335.