Why hasn’t this abandoned WA ‘molestation sanctuary’ been bulldozed to the ground?

Festering in an unremarkable corner of the Great Southern’s historic town of Katanning are rows of empty and drab red brick buildings just waiting for someone to do the right thing and bulldoze the lot of them.

Out the front is a sign which reads “Friendship and Achievement, Welcome to Katanning Residential College”.

The Katanning Residential College.Credit: ABC

But this monument to more than a decade of systematic sexual abuse, gross institutional neglect and the unimaginable psychological scarring of dozens of its victims is better known as St Andrew’s Hostel, where a despicable man called Dennis John McKenna reigned over 15 years of horror.

It’s been more than 10 years since I’ve penned a piece about this blight on the state’s education system.

When Maggie Dawkins – the woman who blew the whistle on inaction – recently sent me an email, I could hardly ignore her latest complaint.

She told me that years of indecision about what should happen to the abandoned St Andrew’s site was continuing.

Calls by McKenna’s victims to demolish the complex on Round Drive were still falling on deaf ears, 12 years after Judge Peter Blaxell handed down damning findings into McKenna’s abuse of at least 48 students, who were boarders at the hostel between 1975 and 1990.

Even though the state government has complete control over the destiny of the disgraced facility, the best it has come up with is a community consultation to decide the fate of St Andrew’s.

“The Department of Education has no further use for the site and intends to dispose of it,” wrote consultants Recovery Matters in June 2023.

“The department is sensitive to the history associated with this site and seeks input into its future use from survivors of the abuse and other key stakeholders, including the broader community.”

Recovery Matters told me that its report on what to do with St Andrew’s was completed and had been sent to the Department of Education.

“This remains an ongoing process and there are no updates to provide at this point,” was the department’s response to my query.

Ongoing process?

McKenna, who must surely rot in jail for the rest of his life, used the state-run hostel as a grooming and molestation sanctuary, even in the face of complaints to police and at least one shire council leader.

Those who survived his depravity want it razed to the ground. Simple. Victims who took their own lives deserve nothing more than the destruction of McKenna’s hunting ground.

This is an extract from the 2012 Blaxell report, which I will rely on to stress an obvious point.

Bureaucrats and public officials need to take down St Andrew’s brick by brick because its very existence today, is a stain on a state charged with protecting children in its care.

“A number of public officials did not adequately respond to information or complaints about sexual misconduct at St Andrew’s,” he concluded.

Survivors, under the advocacy of Ms Dawkins, wrote a letter to Premier Roger Cook last month, pleading for a decision.

“The buildings remain as a hideous reminder of the horrific acts and suffering that took place within its walls,” the letter read.

They called on the premier to knock St Andrew’s over, replace it with social and affordable housing, and provide a visual memorial on a separate site to those who suffered at the hands of a monster the state lauded as an upstanding citizen for far too long.

Process? Just get on with it.

If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732. Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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