Private school commissioned a warts-and-all history. But now, it’s been canned

For decades, Philip Graham* has been crushed by the weight of what he suffered at St Andrew's Cathedral school, where he and other boys were abused by organ master Alan Moffat in the organ loft.

They told then-headmaster Canon Newth. Nothing was done, and more abuse followed. The boys’ suffering has since been acknowledged, but the public feting of Newth as the longest-serving principal and Moffat as a brilliant musician has continued to torment Graham.

St Andrew’s school, former principal Canon Newth, and organist Alan Moffat.

Five years ago, Graham objected to plans to name an auditorium after Newth. The school agreed, removed pictures of the former head from a gallery, and invited Graham to tell his story in a commissioned history of the school.

This gave Graham some comfort. “My hope was that those who had wronged me would be named and shamed publicly rather than being revered and honoured,” he said.

But now the book has been dumped. The school has gone cold on printing the unsanitised history, which would have been a tale of the triumphs of an institution that has fought the odds to survive for 140 years, but also its failures and troubles.

The decision has devastated Graham. “It’s infuriating to see the perpetrators of abuse and secrecy get away with it,” he told this masthead. “It’s unfair to keep it hidden. If that’s a risk to [the school’s] reputation, that’s too bad.”

These days, St Andrew's is a prestigious private school that costs up to $41,000 a year. In the 1880s it was a school for the cathedral’s choir boys and only had a few dozen students. They tended to leave when their voices broke.

“It was a school that struggled like no other school I know of in Australia, it was threatened with closure in almost every year for the first 30 to 40 years of its life,” said the book’s author, Victor Branson – a principal of Mamre Anglican School.

Branson knows of two abusers. A choir master in the 1950s and Moffat, who worked there in the late 1960s and ’70s.

Graham was vulnerable when he met Moffat aged 12. His parents had separated, and he’d been to three different schools.

Head of St Andrew’s Cathedral School Dr Julie McGonigle.Credit: St Andrew's Cathedral School

The abuse went on for years: in Moffat’s car; in the loft; in the bell tower. When one abused boy told Newth, “it was like we were being disciplined for doing something wrong”.

Cathedral authorities banned Moffat from contact with choristers, but that rule was soon forgotten and the abuse continued. Graham’s trauma has been profound. Moffat was made the cathedral’s deputy organist in 1980, played in Grafton and Wangaratta and was a music librarian for the ABC. He died in 2003.

Graham told his story in a private session with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse. He told it as part of a legal case in which he was given a financial settlement. But he has not spoken publicly until now.

In 2019, Graham met school officials to object to naming the auditorium after Newth, who died in 2004. The school agreed, and then-headmaster John Collier invited him to share his story in the school’s history being written by Branson. Collier left at the end of 2021, to be replaced by Julie McGonigle.

In recent years, the school seemed to go cold on the project. Branson had a few conversations with board members and kept working. In June this year he met McGonigle, and she asked what promises had been made to him.

Notes from the meeting, on St Andrew’s letterhead, show they agreed that “Vic to get a copy of the latest version of the book to Julie, which includes the chapters spanning 2010 to 2015. Julie will read through and take it from there.”

There was no suggestion the book would cover the death of Lilie James, a young sports coach who was killed by a colleague in the school’s gymnasium late last year.

Branson said he has heard nothing since that meeting. “No one has ever given me a clear answer about why they don’t want to publish my book,” he said.

Graham said he wasn’t told either and is devastated his story won’t be told. “For me, nothing that has happened since (like apologies and compensation) has put that right and I don’t think anything ever will,” he said.

“My pain goes on. They all got away with it. I didn’t.”

In a statement, St Andrew's said it was aware of “historic breaches of child protection” in the 1950s and ’70s by a choirmaster and an organist … The school categorically condemns any abuse and is supportive of survivors telling their story”.

The school said Collier, who is now head of Shore School, commissioned the story. But the school council didn’t approve the first draft, then decommissioned the book. Branson said it was news to him. When asked for more detail, a spokeswoman cited a letter to Branson pausing the project. Collier could not be reached for comment.

The school said a “a second, incomplete draft” was given to them a few months ago.

“The school is supportive of the survivor story being published, but is not in a position to verify the accuracy of the other 500 pages of the manuscript, or seek permission from every individual, institution or organisation referred to.”

* A pseudonym was used to protect the man’s identity at his request.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).