Child abuse victim Gordon Grant wants the scene of his ‘hell’ kept open, by Emily Moulton, Herald Sun (May 26, 2014)

YOU would think that, after enduring years of unimaginable abuse at Bindoon, Gordon Grant would want the former Christian Brothers orphanage razed to the ground.

For four years he was brutally beaten, sexually assaulted and forced to work as a farm labourer despite being a child.

He says he has no pleasant memories of the Catholic-run agricultural college yet he wants the school to thrive, to become a beacon of vocational education, even though it serves as a constant reminder of the suffering hundreds of children endured at the hands of the Christian Brothers.

“Some say the school should be closed down,” the 80-year-old explains after a trip to the place he referred to as “hell” during the recent Royal Commission hearings into child sexual abuse.

“Its reputation is infamous, not what a school should be known for. But it’s important it’s kept running.

“There are only two Catholic boarding schools left in WA now. And this one caters for less-fortunate students. I would like to see it (the school) survive. I think there is a future for it.”

As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse WA hearings came to an end this week, Mr Grant travelled back to Bindoon with The Sunday Times. It was the fifth time he had been back since he left it as a damaged 16 year old.

He explained, walking around, that he felt nostalgic but mostly sad and recalled the first time he went back to Bindoon in 1983, he almost cried – not because of the horrific memories, but because of the state of the buildings.

“The work that went on, the forced child labour, the agony we went through,” he said. “I can remember having cement burns on your fingers and toes.

Today the college is still in a state of disrepair. Maintaining heritage-listed property costs money, something the college, with only 160 students, doesn’t seem to have.

Recently the school’s administration was forced to lease part of its land to a neighbour because they could not afford to work it, and cut its 6000 flock of sheep to just 600.

Mr Grant says he would hate to see the school close and believes it still has a place in WA.

This seemingly supportive attitude for the college is in contrast to his feelings for the Catholic order which he feels still owes “restitution” to the hundreds of child migrants and wards of the state that were abused under its care.

During the hearings in Perth earlier this month, 11 former residents gave evidence of the horrific treatment they received while staying at one of four orphanages run by the Christian Brothers.

It was not the first time abuse and cover-ups at these institutions have come to light.

Over the past two decades there have been Senate inquiries, a major class action lawsuit and numerous media reports detailing the rampant abuse against children at the homes in Tardun, Clontarf, Bindoon and Castledare.

There was also a public apology from the Christian Brothers and the Catholic Church but only after the adverse publicity.

The order’s former provincial leader for WA and SA, Brother Anthony Shanahan, even told the Royal Commission hearing that the mindset within the Christian Brothers for decades was that the physical and sexual abuse against children was not seen as a crime but as a “moral failing”.

He also admitted to a “pattern” for a brother accused of those offences to be transferred to a day school rather than a residential school to limit their contact with children.

Mr Grant is feisty when he talks about the brothers who abused him, and the way the order handled allegations of abuse.

But he does not think all Christian Brothers are bad – he just thinks the order should pay up. “There are some of these guys who I believe do deserve more restitution or compensation,” he said.

“Considering the horrendous abuse we endured and the constant name calling – we were called sons of whores.

“Brother Paul Keaney would lead the brothers up to Holy Communion then a few hours later would get out his stick and start flogging kids. It’s unbelievable that men of religion could resort to that sort of violence on vulnerable kids.

“That’s what I woke up to every morning – that terrible violence and humiliation.

Mr Grant was 13 when he was shipped off to Australia under the child migration scheme and placed into the care of the Christian Brothers. His Irish mother Catherine was forced to give him up to the Sisters of Nazareth when he was 15 months old because her devoutly Catholic family refused to recognise her marriage to his Welsh protestant father Robert.

When she was killed during the bombing blitz in World War II, Mr Grant, who was baptised Nigel, became the nuns’ ward.

By the time he arrived in Australia in 1947, Mr Grant said he was already accustomed to the way the Catholic Church’s servants of God treated orphaned children.

The nuns, he recalled, were vicious and cruel. But he was not prepared for the brutality dished out by the brothers at Bindoon — or the depravity.

“There wasn’t a spark of love in that place, just lust,” he says with such matter-of-factness that you’d think it didn’t affect him.

While he managed to forge a career in the army after he left the orphanage, he was unable to sustain a happy marriage, having walked down the aisle twice in his life.

Because the sexual abuse was his first sexual experience, he says it affected his relationships with both his former wives.

“I should have never gotten married,” he said. “Your first sexual experience is often indelible, you keep reflecting back on it.

“I think for me because mine was a male person and a priest … you can’t fully relate to your wife.

“I had three children from the first marriage and I got on with them in the last 20 years or so but when they were small the wife said to me the less contact I had with kids the better.

“I was too scared to be affectionate (when they were young). The Christian Brothers don’t realise the damage done to me or the other boys. Most of these men could not sustain stable relationships.”

Mr Grant was one of the first former residents to come forward to reveal the horrific abuse by the Christian Brothers during the 1980s.

After he left the army he moved back to Perth in 1983 and began campaigning to raise awareness of the plight of those abused in orphanages.

He became involved in the Child Migrant Friendship Society then later co-founded the group VOICES (Victims of Institutionalised Cruelty, Exploitation and Supporters).

His compassion for his “old boys” even led him to care for one man who contracted AIDS after a life in prostitution.

And his scorn for the order led him to have the statue of Brother Paul Keaney – the man who dished out the most horrific beatings – removed from Bindoon.

Today he still attends the weekly gatherings for former residents and is very determined to right some of the wrongs committed by Catholic Church.

His new mission is to have Brother Keaney’s remains dug up and reinterred at Karrakatta cemetery so he can be with the other “notorious pedophiles”, something he told the Royal Commission.

He also wanted the name of the pool at Bindoon changed, which he says has been done.

Besides those two things he also wants the Christian Brothers to fund the weekly meetings for the “old boys” and for the order to give more restitution, something the Christian Brothers said they would consider during the recent hearing.

The order has paid almost $21 million in compensation to 424 complainants between 1980 and June last year.

Mr Grant, who also told his story to the Senate inquiry into the child migration scheme, hopes that at least two things will come out of the Royal Commission hearings.

One is more compensation for victims, the other is for the truth to be etched into history.

“What I would like to think now at long last, even though it’s many years since the worst of the terrible abuses occurred at Bindoon and other places, is that it will reveal history in a truer form. That history is going to be rewritten,” he said. “Child migration was such a big thing post-World War II. This affected thousands of lives. Not just of the boys but their families as well.”

ROYAL COMMISSION FACTS

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established by the former Gillard Government following allegations the Catholic Church covered up evidence involving pedophile priests.
The first public hearing was held in September 2013 in New South Wales and examined the actions of authorities following allegation the former CEO of the Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Services was involved in the sexual abuse of children.
Since then 11 more public hearings have been held throughout Australia with five more scheduled until the end of August.
Two public hearings have now been held in Perth
The first examined allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Clontarf, Tardun, Bindoon and Castledare boys home run by the Christian Brothers. 11 former residents testified to the brutal treatment dished about by the brothers at the four homes.
The second related to the responses of a Perth independent school to concerns raised by teachers and the behaviour of a colleague. The man was later jailed for five years for indecently assaulting five students.
Commissioners have also held private sessions throughout the WA including most recently in Broome and Kununurra. They will return to the Kimberley region next month to hold more private sessions.
It is not known when the commission will hand down its findings in relation to the WA hearings. So far it has only released its findings from the first hearing.
It has been estimated the national inquiry would cost at least $100 million
The next public hearing will be held in Canberra in mid-June and will examine the response of the Marist Brothers and authorities to allegations of abuse in NSW, QLD and the ACT.