Name of Scotch College teacher accused of child molestation used to support youth education

Disadvantaged youth and children’s charities have benefited from a trust fund named after an alleged child molester at one of Australia’s top secondary schools.

Michael Achurch was a respected and popular geography teacher at Melbourne’s Scotch College in the 1960s and 1970s, but he drove his car into a pole, killing himself, on the day he was told he would be prosecuted for child molestation offences.

At least two boys had come forward with sexual abuse allegations against him.

One of those victims, Matthew Stuart, has broken his silence about the abuse, revealing he received an apology and compensation from the school two years ago.

The school also wrote to Mr Stuart, telling him it had helped perpetuate a lie about the teacher for too long.

However, the Michael Achurch Memorial Trust still describes him as a “totally dedicated teacher and an outstanding human being” on its website, saying he was a man of “integrity” and inspirational leadership”.

“As a teacher he was among the best – immensely capable and widely regarded as a ‘mover and shaker’ in his chosen field,” it states.

The trust was set up soon after Mr Achurch’s death in 1979 to help young people, particularly by raising money to support outdoor educational activities. It has given out more than $100,000 in the past three decades.

The trust’s beneficiaries range from Indigenous non-profit groups to primary and secondary schools, and even the Australian Red Cross. The trust has also supported humanitarian work, children’s swim programs, youth camps, and has paid for children’s clothing, travel expenses, and sports equipment.

The trust had the backing of Scotch College for decades. The school promoted the trust in its newsletters and magazines and until the settlement allowed the fund to use a school address for its fundraising efforts.

The school has since distanced itself from the trust fund and removed any mention of Mr Achurch from school grounds.

But trustee chairman Graeme Blanch said he was never told of the 2013 settlement or that the school no longer disputed that Mr Achurch was a child molester.

He said he was shocked by the development. Many former students had supported the trust to honour Mr Achurch’s huge contribution to education, he said.

“We always presumed that this was a misunderstanding,” he said. “If we knew of this, if the picture was bigger, it would certainly affect how we approach what the trust does.”

Roxburgh College, a public school in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, shared a $2000 grant from the trust with two other schools to help pay for students to visit Gallipoli in 2013.

Principal Fernando Ianni said he wouldn’t have accepted money from the trust if he had known about the sexual abuse settlement.

“This is greatly disappointing,” he said. “There wasn’t the notification there should have been.”

Mr Blanch said he would call an urgent meeting with trustees to discuss the future of the fund. He is also organising a meeting with Scotch College about the settlement.