Anglican Church Grammar School child sex abuse victims outraged over plan to name scholarship after controversial headmaster

Victims of horrific child sexual abuse at one of Brisbane’s most prestigious schools are outraged over a proposal to name a new $500,000 scholarship after a former headmaster they say knew about and presided over paedophile activity at the elite school.

Victims of horrific child sexual abuse at one of Brisbane’s most prestigious schools are outraged over a proposal to name a new $500,000 scholarship after a former headmaster they say knew about and presided over paedophile activity at the elite school.

Reigniting a bitter feud between rival Churchie factions, one survivor said it was “incredibly improper to try to glorify Harry Roberts”, who led the school from 1947-1969.

A string of paedophiles operated at the East Brisbane boys’ school from 1947 onwards.

This month, the breakaway Rescue Churchie group – established in 2016 after Harry Roberts’ name was stripped from a $23 million building by the school council – wrote to former students requesting donations.

In the letter, chairman Tom Biggs said the proposed scholarship for a graduating senior to attend the University of Queensland would “establish a permanent reminder of the outstanding leadership provided by Harry and (wife) Hilda Roberts during their time at Churchie”.

“We have an initial target of $500,000. We are in the process of setting up a charitable foundation and seeking tax deductibility of donations,” Dr Biggs said.

He said a fundraising dinner would be held at The Queensland Club in March next year with “a celebration theme of the ‘Churchie Values’ of the Roberts’ era”.

“We trust that this news will resonate cheerfully with you and help recall your happy memories of your time at Churchie.”

Angry victims say former headmaster Harry Roberts knew about and presided over paedophile activity at the elite school.

Another man, who says he was abused in the 1960s by maths teacher Hamilton Leslie, said the lives of hundreds of children had been ruined by the “heinous deeds” of paedophiles operating at the school during Roberts’ tenure.

“Condoning all those paedophile teachers for so many decades immediately cancels any good that Roberts did,” said the man, now in his early 70s and still traumatised by his treatment while at the school.

“Up to 80 young boys were abused during the Roberts’ era. Roberts’ first priority, before anything else, should have been the moral safety of those young boys placed in his care, this being an unwritten promise, given to their parents.”

In June 2021, The Courier-Mail exposed a depraved teacher who was allegedly able to wage a decades-long reign of terror at Churchie, drugging and raping young students.

Boarding master and German teacher Gavin Rae Vance allegedly attacked numerous boys in the 1960s and early ’70s in a sadistic rampage that allegedly led to a string of suicides.

One of his victims said Vance was “protected by a cult-like culture” at Churchie at the time.

Another said if headmaster Roberts had acted swiftly to remove Vance and other paedophiles, more grown men would today be able to “throw their arms around their sons”.

Churchie’s dark past also includes former boarding master Harry Wippell, who was committed to stand trial in 2010 over the alleged 1967 sexual assault of a 12-year-old but died before the matter went before a jury. Churchie later said it could neither “defend nor condone” Wippell’s behaviour.

Anglican Church Grammar School is one of Brisbane’s most prestigious schools. Photo Steve Pohlner

Teacher Frederick Roy Hoskins was jailed for 16 months in 2004 for sexually assaulting boys from 1947 until 1955. He taught at the school until 1983.

Former assistant bursar John Litton Elliott was sentenced to 7½ years’ jail for molesting boys between 1970 and 1973.

Hamilton Leslie pleaded guilty to multiple counts of indecent assault and in 2003 received a 12-month suspended sentence.

Staff jailed for later sexual assault offences against students include gym coach William Whitelock, former Anglican priest Robert Sharwood and ex-boarding master Christopher Klemm.

According to Churchie’s official biographer Peter Hempenstall, headmaster Harry Roberts – who died in 1984 – was “regarded with awe and trepidation by schoolboys caught disobeying school rules” and “had a reputation for being preoccupied with winning scholarships and sporting premierships”.

Rescue Churchie’s website says the group aims to “resurrect the impeccable reputation of Mr Harry Roberts” and “seeks to replace the Anglican Diocesan Council, the governing body of Churchie, with an autonomous school council that abides by 21st century corporate governance tenets and best practices”.