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New children were treated as “slaves,” forced to make the prefects’ beds or wash their dirty clothes, and anyone who refused was punished with the cane, imposed by other students with the permission of the staff.
That was the reality for generations of students at Christchurch’s Christ’s College under an archaic system called “fagging,” which was still allowed until the mid-1980s.
Stories of harassment and abuse in private school have emerged after the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care.
A former student who attended Christ’s College in the late 1970s and early 1980s said that even then people would be “disgusted” when he told them about fags.
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“It was not acceptable in New Zealand society at the time it was happening, it was past its expiration date,” he said.
“That place was crazy, ‘horrible’ would be the best way to describe it.”
He said he begged his parents to take him out of school.
“There was no responsibility, there was no one to turn to.”
The current chairman of the board, Hugh Lindo, said that the fagot had been “an integral part of life in a boarding house” and ranged from cleaning an older boy’s shoes to running to the store to buy him candy.
“It was a fundamental tradition of life, especially in pensions.”
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The system worked well when older children acted as role models for younger students, he said.
“I have talked to several Old Boys and many of the Year 13s were good kids and wanted to be mentors.”
However, the fag also led to intimidation and exploitation.
“For some it was incredibly damaging and those are the experiences we are hearing now,” said Lindo.
“The fag was part of a culture of bullying, it certainly wasn’t a culture of support for those (alumni) and other people who have contacted us.”
An elder who joined the school as a guest in 1979 said new students received “two weeks of grace” before the fag began.
“He was allowed to make mistakes and learn how to dress and what the protocol was,” he said.
“They would assign you a prefect and you would be responsible for waking them up, making sure there was a clean, starched collar shirt in their locker room.
“While they were taking a shower, you went, made their beds and cleaned their shoes.”
George heard / things
Christ’s College was founded in 1850 and was based on the English public school model.
The younger students would also wash the older children’s dirty sports clothes and bring them food during breaks.
He felt like he was her slave, he said.
“Everyone had to go through that.”
“You had to run to the prefects studios and find out what they wanted, toast or Milo, and you would have to go and do that.”
The prefects were also allowed to hit younger children if they responded, were not dressed appropriately, or were late.
Former student Jim Goodwin was flogged and said there was a “formal process” that required the consent of the homeowner.
“He would say ‘give two each,'” he said.
“It was done in our library, people who could be whipped lined up outside and entered one by one.
“I used to pass out when they spanked me, it hurt a lot.”
Goodwin had a queer when he was prefect of the house and said that they were “regarded as servants.”
“The deal was that they had to pay them, but they had no other choice,” he said.
“There was a certain amount of benevolence, but it wasn’t done for that.”
The system “phased itself out” in the mid-to-late 1980s, in part due to the appointment of the director, Dr. Max Rosser, Lindo said.
“There was a change of principal and it was not something that he felt was part of the modern school at that time.
“He did a lot to change the culture of the previous regimes.”
Up to 80 people have contacted the board to share their experiences of bullying and abuse during their time at Christ’s College.
The school has issued an apology to alumni who faced abuse, but they may never come forward.
Goodwin said it was a good first step in addressing the problem.
“It sounded very genuine and sincere to me and it seems like the school is doing the right thing, but we’ll see.
“They are talking about compensation. You can’t pay people to take their pain away, but it’s an acknowledgment that they accept that bad things happened. “
Lindo has also said that two other cases of sexual abuse have been filed and that people are receiving support.
The school is also investigating abuse in the early 2000s.
Individuals can contact the independent facilitator, Mark Wells, by emailing [email protected].
