AUSTRALIA
The Age

Chris Davis

Autres temps, autres moeurs. French for “other times, other customs”. A phrase that is relevant as the media and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse examine 20th century decisions using 21st century morality.

For those who weren’t there, I’ll share my 20th century experience. My boys’ only school was a place of great good, thanks to some exceptional teachers. The most enduring and inspiring was an English spinster who had lost her fiancé in World War I. Her surrogate children were her “boys”. She taught us English in the finest tradition, as well as a love of literature and a code of excellent conduct. Having been in the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, she sang beautifully. She was strict, but with a delightful warmth and sense of humour. The headmaster was a World War II veteran, highly decorated…