AUSTRALIA
The Australian
AAP FEBRUARY 07, 2014
THE number of children absconding from a Salvation Army home in Queensland reached unprecedented levels at a time a child prostitution ring was believed to be operating in the area.
In 1973, 12 boys ran away 30 or 40 times from Alkira, a home for boys at Indooroopilly, run by the Salvation Army – and in 1975, in particular, a boy would run away for a few days and then return, an inquiry into child sexual abuse has been told. In 1975 government authorities were made aware police were investigating allegations four pedophiles were operating in the northern Brisbane suburbs and the Gold Coast.
Jan Doyle, a senior social worker for the Queensland Department of Children’s Services in the 70s, told the royal commission into child sexual abuse the number of runaways was exceptional in 1973. She also said that in 1975 she was deeply concerned about the whereabouts of one boy, HT, who frequently ran away from Alkira, so she spoke to the police Juvenile Aid Bureau.
Ms Doyle said she sought permission to run an advertisement with a photograph of HT requesting information about his whereabouts and that she remembered talking to welfare departments in NSW and Victoria about him.
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