Can any victim(s) of Graham Thomson’s CSA agree with the now adopted/expected-under-law school rules of “institutions who care for children”? It’s at this key-point that I had been waiting for, to proactively join with my counsellor and support worker in my next phase of ‘recovery’. As ‘the headmaster of BBC, he had primary-responsibility for “duty of care” of each of the students.
Particular theories/writings/beliefs have also been discussed, which have started being added to my library. Where possible, reviews + samples of these materials will be added into the RCbbc Blog Library + eMail posts. Parts of these discussions may also be shared in Podcasts, if I’m able to sort through earlier issues(?).
As victim-survivours we must all try to realise that is that while we were each minors (under 18 yrs), any of the institutions that we speant our lives at were responsible for our health + safety (duty of care). As both a victim, acknowledged NRS Applicant and Peer-to-peer Advocate (RCbbc) – having made my way to this stage fills me with both positivity-refret + appreciative-sorrow. This is alike ‘polar-opposites of CSA’?!
UpdatedĀ November 10, 2015 ā 6.42pm first publishedĀ atĀ 5.41pm
A prestigious Brisbane school hired a now-convicted paedophile after the headmaster was warned he had been dismissed for “improper, irregular and highly odd behaviour” toward students, a royal commission has heard.
Disgraced music teacher Gregory Robert Knight started teaching at St Paul’s School in 1981, under headmaster Gilbert Case.
Disgraced music teacher Gregory Robert Knight started teaching at St Paul’s School in 1981, under headmaster Gilbert Case.
The year before he was forced out of Brisbane Boys’ College after complaints he instructed boarders at the school to walk from their beds to the showers with towels slung over their shoulder, not around their waist so he could watch them.
The boarding master was also accused of breaching school policy by allowing a boy to shower in his personal school quarters.
Former Brisbane Boys’ College headmaster Graham Thomson leaves the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday.CREDIT: JORGE BRANCO
On Tuesday afternoon, former BBC head Graham Thomson told the child abuse royal commission he called Mr Knight to his office and was “confounded by his inability or unwillingness” to make a comment about the matters, after they came to his attention in 1980.
“He made no effort to offer an explanation, and certainly he did nothing to refute the allegations,” he said.
Knight, who has been convicted of indecently dealing with boys in Queensland and Northern Territory, denies the students’ allegations.
He also contradicted Mr Thomson’s version of events, claiming the boys had “varied the story to suit the fact that they were upset because I had told the headmaster they had beer in the dormitory” and that he “corrected” the stories.
Former St Paul’s teacher Gregory Knight.
Mr Thomson said he had warned Mr Case about the allegations before the St Paul’s head hired Knight in 1981.
“I believe that I said that his behaviour was unsupportable, unacceptable and not becoming to a resident master of Brisbane Boys’ College.
Former Brisbane Boys’ College headmaster Graham Thomson gives evidence.
“I did explain to Mr Case that he had been dismissed summarily and had been asked to leave the premises in 24 hours.”
Mr Case’s barrister, Jeffrey Hunter QC, put it to Mr Thomson that his client hired Knight as the BBC head’s warning had not been quite as “cogent” as he thought and challenged whether he included the time limit.
“I consider the information I gave to Mr Case was significant enough to suggest that he should look at Mr Knight’s application with due caution,” Mr Thomson said.
Mr Thomson said there were no reports of “sexual misconduct” while Knight was at the school but boys told him they had lost trust in the teacher and his presence in the dormitory was an “embarrassment”.
Knight had earlier told the commission Mr Case had asked him whether there would be any problems like the ones alleged to have occurred at BBC, to which he replied the “stories” were “made up” and he couldn’t imagine similar occurrences at St Paul’s.
Mr Hunter put it to Knight this conversation didn’t happen.
“It did happen, and I believe that Mr Case gave me a chance, which I proved that I deserved,” Knight said via video link.
Mr Case was yet to give evidence before the commission and was scheduled to appear later this week.
Knight was jailed for three years from 2005 on more than 20 counts of indecently dealing with a St Paul’s student in 1984.
A South Australian government investigation had previously found Knight had touched the penises of three boys on two school camps in 1977 but police didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute.
After teaching at St Paul’s, Knight went on, via a positive reference from Mr Case, to teach at a school in Darwin, where he was convicted in 1994 of 15 charges against five boys, including two of carnal knowledge.
* People who need support can contact Lifeline on 13 14 11, 1800 Respect on 1800 737 732 or make contact with services listed here by the Royal Commission.
Each of us knows at least one person whom we would say has a closed mind.Ā Bias, bigotry, misogyny,Ā xenophobia, and homophobia are all examples of closed-mindedness. When oneās mind is made up, there is no changing it. But there are other forms of closed-mindednessāfor example, religious fundamentalism (regardless of the particular religion) is also a form of closed-mindedness. Fundamentally, what closed-mindedness does is shut out the possibility of original thinking.
The closed-minded person is not allowed to question her own beliefs. Such questioning allows a person to center on her own authentic self and to come to terms withānot what she has been taught to believeābut what she actually believes. Belief is very, very important, for it is upon belief that we formulate our lives. It is on belief that we build the foundations of our lives.
The Opening.
Source: Andrea Mathews
Original thought is a thought or belief that comes from the center of our essential being. Many, many of our thoughts originate externally. Someone has told us how to think, and so we just think that way without ever questioning the validity of such thoughts or beliefs. Original thinking generates ideas that hold water, not because they are right so much as because they are real. Original thinking allows us to fly free from the constraints of our own bias, see through it to creative, problem-solving beliefs
On the other hand, it is fear that generally keeps the mind closed. Often the fear is based on the idea that one must be right in order to be OK. It is not safe to be wrong. Therefore, once an idea is grasped, one must hold on to it, for fear that to question it might prove one wrong and thus unsafe.
Unfortunately, closed-minded people can take positions of power over othersāthus training others to likewise have closed minds. Parents who have closed minds often train their children to believe as they believeāand will even go so far as to outright reject a child who does not agree with their beliefs. There are many LGBTQ adolescents who are homeless right now, because they challenged the beliefs of closed-minded parents. What was hoped, in these cases, by the parents, was that their closed-mindedness would create an equal set of closed minds in their children. When it doesnāt work that way, the parents are outraged and simply get rid of the whole problem by kicking their children out of their homes.
There are many who operate out of a closed mind as a coping mechanism for a deep-seated fear that they cannot even access, because to explore their own minds might be too frightening. The open-minded person is willing to explore his own mind and even find that heās been wrong about something and self-correct. The closed-minded person is unwilling to do this. Being wrong is simply not safe. Being right at all times about all that matters is the way to feel safe. Even if one must resort to illusion or delusion in order to hold on to the belief that one is right and thereby safe, the closed-minded person may do so.
For this reason, trying to talk the closed-minded person out of a closed mind is not likely to succeed. Arguing, trying to prove your points, these are methods that are likely to fail. Rather, facilitating a safe zone for this person, in which safety is the primary interactive tool, might mean that the closed-minded person will ever so slowly begin to explore his own mind. When, for example, a white person biased against their darker-skinned brothers and sisters meets and begins to formulate a safe relationship with a darker-skinned person, he may begin to open some.
The problem is that because safety is the biggest issue here, this bias will generally not allow such a comradeship to occur. Therefore, we must continue to facilitate the openness of society necessary to allow for such engagementsāinteractions necessary to the living experience of working, buying, and generally intermingling with the world must continue to occur. We must not allow for the shutting down of these opportunities to engage. If we go backward in time, by shutting out certain marginalized individuals from the capacity to interact with othersāincluding the closed-mindedāwe simply increase the possibility for more closed-mindedness.
RCbbc sends out our latest Invite, to anyone whoās willing to add their responses to following optional questions:
who is interviewed: victims/partners/parents/children?
what has been the biggest (hidden) CSA side effects?
where have you been comfortable/uncomfortable talking about it?
why have you now been able to talk about it?
when has the longterm effects of the CSA started sinking in?
how have you been able to move on, with these impacts?
itās up to the guest, how they are referred to (named, nickname, anonymous, ācharacterā, etc). recordings can also be changed, when you request anonymity. just as how detailed their answers to these questions are. itās not about blaming, rather creating another area where weāll have a chance to share more of what results staying silent has had on other CSA victims/partners/parents/children. thanks in advance, to anyone whoās able to talk about these personal issues!
hopes are that more of your details are making there way to andrew messengerās journalistic resources of the guardian. in combination with these, increased amounts of podcasts are being planned alongside recent changes to ndis support workers. stay tuned!
Posted Tue 3 Nov 2015 at 10:23amTuesday 3 Nov 2015 at 10:23am, updated Tue 3 Nov 2015 at 5:45pmTuesday 3 Nov 2015 at 5:45pm
The latest public hearings in Brisbane will look at the experiences of former students at Brisbane Grammar School.(Supplied: Brisbane Grammar School)
A former school counsellor often hypnotised then sexually abused boys during counselling sessions at Brisbane Grammar School, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard.
Two prestigious private schools in south-east Queensland, the Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) at Spring Hill and St Paul’s School at Bald Hills, are the focus of public hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane.
The nine-day hearing is focusing on the actions of former school counsellor Kevin John Lynch at Brisbane Grammar School from the 1970s to 1990s, as well as the abuse by a teacher at St Paul’s, Gregory Knight.
Inquiry to look into:
The experience of former students of BGS in Spring Hill
The experience of former students at St Paul’s in Bald Hills
The response of the Board of Trustees, Headmasters and other BGS staff to complaints about the behaviour of ex-counsellor Kevin Lynch
The responses of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane Diocese, the school council, headmasters and other St Paul’s School staff to concerns or complaints about the behaviour of Mr Lynch and Gregory Knight
The past and current systems, practices, policies and procedures in place at BGS and St Paul’s in relation to raising and responding to concerns and complaints about child sexual abuse
The circumstances relating to Mr Knight’s employment and registration as a teacher in Queensland
Any related matters
An ex-student at Brisbane Grammar School – called BQK – said he was systematically hypnotised and then physically and sexually abused by Lynch, who said it would improve his behaviour and performance.
Counsel assisting the inquiry David Lloyd told the commission Lynch often hypnotised and sexually abused boys during the sessions at both schools.
BQK said his meetings with Lynch would last an hour.
“While I was under hypnosis Lynch would do sick things,” BQK told the commission.
“Lynch convinced me that his treatment method would make me academically and athletically superior and give me an advantage over my peers by harnessing the power of orgasms.”
BQK told the commission that BGS staff were not doing their job if they did not know what was going on.
“How can you justify having soundproof, fire–rated, dead-bolted doors on the front and back when the rest of the school has timber treated windows on every door,” he said.
“I was badly let down by this culture of turning a blind eye and protecting the brand and it is hard not to see it as a deliberate cover-up.”
He killed himself in 1997 after being charged with abusing a student at St Paul’s, having moved there after Grammar.
NT school responded ‘swiftly’ to serious allegations
Knight had previously worked at Darwin’s Dripstone High School.
Counsel assisting the inquiry said serious allegations of child abuse were made against Knight in 1993 and that the response from the school and the NT Department of Education was “swift”.
“There was a meeting attended by the school principal, Knight and a senior member of the NT Education Department,” Mr Lloyd said.
“Knight was confronted with the allegations of sexual abuse and he accepted the truth of those allegations.”
His offer to resign was refused, with the school sacking him on the spot.
The hearing heard that Dripstone “arranged counselling for the children” and the department “made sure police were notified”.
In 1994, Knight was convicted and sentenced to eight years imprisonment with a three-year non-parole period.
Music teacher abused a ‘significant number of kids’
The commission also heard how a former government minister failed to dismiss music teacher Knight, who went on to abuse a significant number of children when he worked at St Paul’s in Brisbane in the 1980s.
Mr Lloyd said in 1978, an inquiry found Knight guilty of disgraceful conduct and recommended he be dismissed from teaching.
The then-South Australia education minister, Dr Donald Hopgood, instead accepted Knight’s resignation and gave him a positive reference.
Dr Hopgood has also been called as a witness.
He said the commission will examine what senior staff of Brisbane Grammar and St Paul’s knew about the sexual abuse by Lynch.
The inquiry is expected to hear evidence of students’ experiences at both schools and will investigate the schools’ responses after complaints were made.
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With hopes of Sharing the latest Podcast (#3) & building interest in these spoken forms of media, here’s a glimpse of the related release info. Transcript should also be posted, later on. Related glitches have been worked on, which should soon lead to the entire Podcast #3 being Shared …
our involved audience-members-victim/survivors-families, are getting more involved in SM, communications & growing amounts of micro-messaging; so too are our RCbbc channels! While weāre still slower to work through existing hurdles, getting involved in fresher branches allows us to keep tuned-in. Together, yes we can help make more experiences known to more.
Driven by Appleās #Podcasting push, RCbbc has been able to relight our torch š„, republishing our initial interview with Cameron Russell. Closely followed by the essential Journalist interview with Andrew Messenger (The Guardian), hopes of tapping into the unaddressed market of news media is becoming real!
Although sharing of our same posts as previously, there seems to be a return of ānegative results/impactsā within FB: our 3rd 2024 Podcast was removed, for following SPAM āreasonsā:
As RCbbc are still unaware of what weāve uploaded, which rates as āSPAMā – š¤·š½āāļø?! One moment, we get positive responses, the next we get accussed+removed – from one channel ..
