Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Other Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Box Hill, Bayswater, Victoria and Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia · 2016

Royal Commission Case Study 33: Salvation Army children's homes, Southern Territory

Record class

Institutional event

Evidence status

Official finding

Authority role

Salvation Army officers at Box Hill, Bayswater, Nedlands and Eden Park boys' homes

Organization

The Salvation Army, Australia Southern Territory

Spiritual nexus

Salvation Army officer rank carried direct custodial and disciplinary authority, reinforced by religious obedience, over children who had no other guardian; that authority both enabled abuse and determined whether complaints were believed.

  • Institutional obedience or isolation
  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2016-07-01 · royal commission finding

    Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Australia — Case Study 33. The Commission heard from 12 former residents of Box Hill, Bayswater, Nedlands and Eden Park describing physical and sexual abuse by Salvation Army officers between 1965 and 1977. It found the Army's policies and procedures did not enable prevention or detection of abuse; children who reported abuse were commonly punished, disbelieved, or ignored. The Commission found the Army knew of sexual offending at Box Hill from as early as 1947, including against Captain Arthur Clee, who was simply transferred between homes rather than reported.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • Salvation Army officer rank and custodial authority over resident wards
  • punishment and disbelief of children who reported abuse

Primary record

Sources

official statutory inquiry report inquiry report Royal Commission, 'Case Study 33: The Salvation Army children's homes, Australia Southern Territory.'

Official findings on Box Hill, Bayswater, Nedlands and Eden Park.

legal practitioner summary background Ryan Carlisle Thomas Lawyers, 'Bayswater and Box Hill Boys' Homes — where child abuse was rife.'

Corroborates Commission findings on Captain Arthur Clee and the Army's transfer-rather-than-report pattern.

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