Overview

This Board of Inquiry has endeavoured to conduct itself based on the principles of truth-telling. Central to this undertaking has been creating space to listen to, and understand, the experiences of victim-survivors and secondary victims.

Truth-telling is a process that allows individuals to come together to openly talk about historical wrongs and failures. It involves identifying and acknowledging past failures, understanding who was responsible for these failures, and ensuring they do not occur again.

Under clause 3(c) of its Terms of Reference, the Board of Inquiry was required to examine the response of the Department of Education (Department) to the experiences of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse perpetrated by relevant employees at Beaumaris Primary School in the 1960s and 1970s, and by those relevant employees at certain other government schools between 1960 and December 1999. The Department’s response includes the Department ‘and its officers’ state of knowledge and any actions it took or failed to take at or around the time of the abuse’.¹

The Department is responsible for the safety and welfare of students in Victorian government schools. The Board of Inquiry has found that the Department repeatedly failed to protect children from sexual abuse between 1960 and 1999.

This Part has five chapters:

• Chapter 10, The education system(opens in a new window), outlines the policy settings, legislative framework and sociocultural factors relevant to child safety in Victorian government schools between the 1960s and 1990s.
• Chapter 11, The alleged perpetrators(opens in a new window), documents matters relevant to allegations of historical child sexual abuse by relevant employees at Beaumaris Primary School and certain other government schools. It includes case studies on the alleged perpetrators, including their employment and criminal records, the allegations of child sexual abuse, and the Department’s knowledge and response to the child sexual abuse.
• Chapter 12, Grooming and disclosure(opens in a new window), examines how the experiences of victim-survivors describe features of grooming and manipulation, both of individuals and communities. It also explores barriers to disclosure of child sexual abuse at the relevant time, and how the Department’s conduct caused or contributed to those barriers.
• Chapter 13, System failings(opens in a new window), sets out the Board of Inquiry’s findings on the Department’s response to the allegations of child sexual abuse at the time, including analysis of the Department’s actions, or inaction, and missed opportunities to intervene.
• Chapter 14, Learning and improving(opens in a new window), provides a look ahead at learnings and improvements to prevent future child sexual abuse, including a brief analysis of changes over time and contemporary child safety practices.

The Board of Inquiry’s focus on allegations against specific persons at particular schools was determined by its Terms of Reference. As set out in Chapter 3, Scope and interpretation(opens in a new window), they required the Board of Inquiry to inquire into the experiences of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse who were sexually abused at Beaumaris Primary School by a teacher, school employee or contractor during the 1960s and 1970s (a ‘relevant employee’), and by those relevant employees at certain other Victorian government schools between 1960 and 1999. The Terms of Reference did not permit the Board of Inquiry to inquire into, for example, experiences of child sexual abuse by a teacher at a Victorian government school where the allegation was not made against a relevant employee. As a result, if an allegation was made against a teacher who did not teach at Beaumaris Primary School in the 1960s or 1970s, the Board of Inquiry could not inquire into that allegation. Throughout this Part, therefore, there is an emphasis on Beaumaris Primary School.

Notes to readers

Experiences of victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members

Throughout this report, the Board of Inquiry shares information that reflects some of the experiences that victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members shared with the Board of Inquiry.

The Board of Inquiry is deeply grateful to the victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members who so courageously shared their experiences of child sexual abuse. The Board of Inquiry also acknowledges those victim-survivors who have chosen not to disclose their experiences of child sexual abuse, and may never do so, including those who are no longer with us.

The Board of Inquiry asked people who engaged with it how they wanted their information to be managed. Some wished to share their experiences publicly. Some wished to do so anonymously and others wished to do so confidentially. Where people shared their experiences anonymously, the Board of Inquiry has not included any identifying information in this report. Where people shared their experiences confidentially, the Board of Inquiry used this information to inform its work, but has not included it in this report.

In relation to those who wished to share their experiences publicly, in some cases the Board of Inquiry determined that it should anonymise the information they shared. This decision was made for legal or related reasons, including in order to avoid causing prejudice to any current or future criminal or civil proceedings.

The Board of Inquiry shares the experiences of victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members to create an important public record of their recollections. However, the Board of Inquiry has not examined or tested these accounts for accuracy or weighed whether there is enough evidence to support criminal or civil proceedings. The approach the Board of Inquiry has taken in this regard is consistent with its objectives and its Terms of Reference.²

The Board of Inquiry expresses its immense gratitude to all who contributed, in any way, to its work. Those who shared their experiences have shaped the Board of Inquiry’s general findings and recommendations, and contributed to a shared understanding, among all Victorians, of the impact of child sexual abuse. The Board of Inquiry expects this report will reinforce the community’s commitment to better protect children from sexual abuse into the future.

Relevant employees

In the Terms of Reference, ‘relevant employee’ is defined to mean ‘a teacher or other government school employee or contractor who sexually abused a student at Beaumaris Primary School during the 1960s or 1970s’.³ The Board of Inquiry’s work has confirmed that several of these relevant employees have been convicted of multiple offences, including indecent assault and other offences against children. However, for various reasons, most of the experiences of child sexual abuse shared with the Board of Inquiry did not result (or have not yet resulted) in a criminal conviction. Accordingly, this Part refers to ‘alleged perpetrators’.

While the Board of Inquiry recognises that some of these alleged perpetrators have been convicted of offences and their child sexual abuse in relation to these offences is no longer ‘alleged’, in order to treat all experiences shared with the Board of Inquiry in the same way, and to avoid causing prejudice to any current or future criminal or civil proceedings, this Part still refers to them as ‘alleged perpetrators’. In doing so, the Board of Inquiry does not intend to devalue or minimise any of the experiences shared by victim-survivors, secondary victims or affected community members.

As set out in Chapter 3, Scope and interpretation(opens in a new window), six individuals have been identified by the Board of Inquiry as relevant employees. Four of the six relevant employees are discussed in detail in this Part. This is because more information and evidence was available to the Board of Inquiry in regard to these four relevant employees. This is no way diminishes the experiences of victim-survivors who were allegedly sexually abused as children by the two relevant employees who are not discussed in this Part.