Opinion: Cranbrook victim opens up about his experience with headmaster Nicholas Sampson

Three years ago I wrote a story about a teacher grooming myself and other schoolboys at Cranbrook. This is how I feel about the allegations embroiling the school.

OPINION

Shortly after I wrote a story, three and a half years ago, about Peter Roebuck’s grooming of myself and other schoolboys at Cranbrook, then-headmaster Nicholas Sampson reached out to me and said he wanted to meet me and discuss the matter.

Like many other old boys of the school, I had heard and read the criticism about Sampson’s inadequate dealings with an alleged pedophile teacher previously in his time at Geelong Grammar.

It was a matter that had been covered by the Royal Commission into Child Abuse and raised serious questions about the School’s approach to the safety of children under his care.

I respected the fact he had reached out to me in regards to what happened at the school in the 1990s when he wasn’t there and was interested in what he had to say.

And while I was wary, I met with him, with my wife, in his office overlooking Sydney Harbour a few weeks later in October 2020.

Nicholas Sampson leaves the County Court in Melbourne during the child abuse Royal Commission hearing.

The meeting lasted for an hour and Sampson listened while I recalled the free reign and unfettered access Roebuck had to the school, using his reputation as a well-known cricket figure as cover for his despicable activities.

During that hour, Sampson appeared to me to be weighing up what to do with what he had read and what I had subsequently told him. He mentioned legal proceedings against the school in regard to Roebuck and seemed to be trying to gauge whether I might institute something similar.

While I appreciated the time he took to meet with me and it was a cordial discussion, it was hard for me to believe that he could be interested in my best interests as a child who had been under the care of the school. The school and his role as its head must have come first and foremost and anything. I said and had experienced, a distant second.

I also assumed the meeting was an exercise in ticking a box, covering the school legally and drawing a line under the issue.

Cranbrook School.

A common response, even defence by some, to Roebuck’s disgusting and widespread actions that spanned the globe and numerous institutions, was simply, regrettably and offensively along the line of – that was what happened back then. Similarly, the royal commission accepted that Mr Sampson would have done things differently today but found he should have notified the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

Hardly a convincing finding or response, pedophilia is pedophilia, no matter if it happens today, or occurred decades ago.

A much reached for phrase when stories such as those about Cranbrook break is that ‘evil flourishes’ when good men (and women) do nothing’.

Blue blood Daisy Turnbull, daughter of the former PM, who was parachuted in to help the school transition to coeducation, was one of those who signed a letter to the Cranbrook School Council saying they admired Sampson’s ‘bravery’ in the lead-up to the ABC’s Monday expose on matters at the school.

Director of Co-Education and the Academy at Cranbrook. Daisy Turnbull. Picture: John Appleyard

Again, this is a man, an educator, someone who was entrusted with the care of thousands of children, who had inadequately dealt with an alleged pedophile teacher previously.

Sadly, despite the progress made on dealing with pedophiles and attempting to ensure the safety of children everywhere, it is evident much of it is merely lip service, or glossing over the issue.

That is evident from many involved in the Cranbrook scandal.

The matter of Cody Reynolds, a teacher at another super expensive private school in Sydney’s East – Moriah – who was jailed over child abuse material is another case in point.

Too long those who enable or excuse child abuse, across all of society, have been given a free pass.

Suffice to say, those who have long supported Sampson at Cranbrook School now need to step aside as a through and transparent investigation, headed up by a respected legal figure, is launched by Cranbrook into its culture, teaching methods and those who it employs and sits on its council.

Ex-Cranbrook student James MacSmith. Picture: Toby Zerna

It’s a watershed moment for the school and in the fight against child abuse. And perhaps now the school can actually begin to live up to its motto established over 100 years ago – To Be Rather Than to Seem To Be.

Because for far too long now, shockingly, those who are seeming to be, have held sway.

Originally published as Opinion: Cranbrook victim opens up about his experience with headmaster Nicholas Sampson