Picture: State Library of NSW
Daruk Training School is perhaps the most notorious youth training centre in the history of NSW. Throughout its 25-year history, officers preyed on the vulnerable children in their care, committing horrifying acts of physical and sexual abuse against those those who were supposed to protect.
For many years there were at least 3, and likely more, paedophile officers operating within Daruk at the same time. Former residents have recounted being subjected to truly abhorrent crimes including penetrative sexual assaults, genital mutilations, botched circumcisions & violent beatings.
Public reports about Daruk began to emerge in the 1990s, when the Woods Inquiry received numerous accounts of physical and sexual abuse within the training school; including by staff members, medical personnel, carers and older boys acting at the direction of staff members. The Inquiry found that there was ‘culture of violence and impunity’ within Daruk, and that the NSW Government had failed to properly monitor the welfare of the boys in their care.
Are you a survivor of child abuse in Daruk Training School? Click here to share your story with us. You may be eligible for compensation.
Despite these findings, it was not until 2016 that serious action was taken, when the NSW police established Strike Force Eckersley to investigate numerous complaints about the sexual assault of children at Daruk. The Strike Force should be commended for the dogged pursuit of these offenders, which led to a number of arrests, criminal charges and convictions.
Further publicity followed in 2018, when a 60 Minutes investigation exposed numerous allegations against former Daruk Superintendent Alasdair Webster. It was alleged that Webster, who was in charge between 1973 and 1984, had ignored numerous complaints of sexual abuse within Daruk, and had even punished some children for speaking out. Upon leaving Daruk, Webster commenced a career as a federal politician.
Webster himself was charged with child abuse offences in 2020, to which he has pled not guilty. Kelso Lawyers has previously written about other former Daruk officers who have been either charged or convicted of child abuse offences, or else died before charges could be made. These include; Christiaan Beullens , Robert Barracluff, William Wright, Frank Valentine, Peter Henry, John Munger and Laurie Maher.
We have helped many victims of these men to seek justice and remain committed to holding the NSW Government to account for the atrocities that occurred on their watch.
