'Bohemian' school appoints investigator amid sexual assault allegations

Fitzroy Community School dismissed sexual abuse claims, former students allege Tue 4 Aug 2026 at 4:39am Sisters Kirsten and Gretel were four and seven years old when they were introduced to the charismatic founders of the Fitzroy Community School (FCS), married couple Faye Berryman and Philip O'Carroll. The couple was trying to create an alternative "oasis" that allowed children to escape the constraints of mainstream education in favour of free expression. Warning: This story contains descriptions of alleged child sexual abuse. Fifty years later, the sisters are among six women who have spoken to the ABC about allegations of sexual abuse and a sexualised culture at the Melbourne school across decades. The allegations include Mr O'Carroll cuddling girls in a bed, showing them crotchless underwear, encouraging children to simulate sex, performing a sex act on his wife in front of children, and pressuring children to touch his genitals. In separate incidents, other students allege they were isolated and sexually assaulted by groups of boys at the school in strikingly similar circumstances three years apart. The allegations follow an ABC investigation that revealed a history of physical discipline that tipped into violence at the school, as well as open hostility towards regulators. At least 20 former students are preparing to sue FCS as a "last resort". Some have said their complaints to regulators and police over decades went nowhere. Victoria Police is investigating claims of sexual and physical abuse in the 2000s. It refused to comment on any other historical abuse allegations. The 1970s: 'That school' Kirsten (surname not used to protect her privacy) said her few months at the school in the couple's two-storey terrace home on Brunswick Street were scary. "I was afraid, frightened, outnumbered … extremely vulnerable," she said. Kirsten said she could not remember much about the lessons at the school in the 1970s, but that other memories were vivid. In a 2006 statement to Victoria Police, seen by the ABC, she alleged she saw Mr O'Carroll lying naked on the floor at the school while children played around him, with one child "driving a Matchbox car up and down along his naked body". "When the car got near his penis, I remember his penis [becoming] more and more erect," her police statement reads. "Both Phil and the other kid were encouraging me to get another car and join in. "I didn't want to and said no." Kirsten said she felt forced to pick up a car and "drive" it on Mr O'Carroll's body but avoided his penis. "Phil pushed me further and further and I didn't want to participate and ran away," she said in her police statement. In a separate incident, Kirsten's mother left her and her "bolshie" big sister Gretel, who was not a student at FCS, in the founders' care for a few days. Gretel alleges that during that time Mr O'Carroll strode into a bedroom and encouraged a group of children to simulate "child-on-child sex". "All the kids were getting whipped into a kind of frenzy of excitement and taking their clothes off and getting into the bunk beds and simulating sex with each other, and encouraging Kirsten and I to be part of it," she said. Gretel alleged Mr O'Carroll performed oral sex on Ms Berryman in front of children during the same stay. She said she also saw Mr O'Carroll having a bath with a female child, who was touching his penis. "He was encouraging everybody to come into the bathroom and talking about everything being natural and our bodies being natural and being naked is fine," Gretel said. "[Mr O'Carroll said:] If anybody wants to touch his penis, then that's fine, and that we could all have a turn. "We went back home, and I recall saying to my mum, 'Kirsten shouldn't go to that school, Mum.'" She said their mother withdrew Kirsten immediately and "ruptured" her friendship with Mr O'Carroll and Ms Berryman. "Child sexual abuse could be wrapped up in the shadows of what's considered to be bohemian values," Gretel said. "But it's not bohemian values at all." The sisters moved interstate with their mother soon after. 'Deathly silence' When they returned to Victoria as adults, Kirsten and Gretel were shocked to learn Mr O'Carroll and Ms Berryman were still running FCS, which had been cited as an alternative education success story in national media. Best-selling author John Marsden taught at the school and praised its methods for giving children freedom and teaching them real-life skills. The sisters made formal statements to Victoria Police in 2006. "Our main reason at the time was … protecting future generations," Gretel said. But the sisters said that after making their statements to police they never heard back. "Crickets. There was just deathly silence around the whole thing,"Gretel said. The ABC has obtained Kirsten's police statement and a police incident report. The incident report shows Ms Berryman and Mr O'Carroll were interviewed at Richmond police station on December 4, 2006. According to the report, Ms Berryman and Mr O'Carroll confirmed the girls had stayed with them "on occasion" and confirmed a friendship with their mother. They strenuously denied the allegations, which they described as "fanciful" and said they were "shocked and surprised". The couple told police that the school was not in operation in 1976, so Kirsten could not have been a student. FCS was officially registered in 1980, but the founders wrote in their 2015 book Fitzroy Community School that they took their first students in 1976. The 2006 police incident report states that Mr O'Carroll told police the allegations were a result of a "falling out" with Gretel and Kirsten's parents. The report said the registered schools board confirmed "there has never been an allegation of sexual misconduct during the running of the school". A detective assigned to the case found there was no historical evidence of the first complaint and no corroborating physical or forensic evidence, which left police "unable to establish an offence had occurred". Police do not appear to have interviewed the girls' mother in 2006, despite planning to contact her. She was living in New South Wales at that time. The case was closed. Ten years later, Gretel went back to police and said she was told the investigation would be reopened. Twenty years after they first spoke to police, the sisters are still waiting for an update. Victoria Police did not answer questions about Kirsten and Gretel's claims of sexual abuse. Instead police referred the ABC to its ongoing investigation into separate allegations, which the ABC first reported in December 2025. "Detectives are investigating allegations of sexual and physical abuse at a school in North Fitzroy between 2009 and 2012," a police spokesperson said. The ABC understands the 2009-2012 allegations have been made by a former female student against three men now aged in their 40s and 50s. The alleged victim is preparing legal action against the school. Kirsten and Gretel are too. "We're investigating legal proceedings against both the school and the state [of Victoria]," the sisters' lawyer Manny Carbone said. FCS has two campuses, but all allegations the ABC is aware of relate to the Brunswick Street campus. Mr O'Carroll has never been a registered teacher and cannot be investigated by the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). He left the school board in 2002 but was active in the school through to the mid-2010s. In 2000 Mr O'Carroll wrote a blog post about male teachers living in fear of being misunderstood, in a "climate of suspicion around men". "So I have made a decision. I touch children — cuddle them if that's what comes naturally. I have decided to live with the risk of being monstered," the post read. "The 'hands off' policy is against the laws of nature, it is not the solution to the minority problem of child molesting." Mr O'Carroll did not respond to the ABC's interview request and written questions. Ms Berryman still teaches at FCS and sits on its board, along with her daughter Catherine O'Carroll. The 82-year-old was awarded an Order of Australia for "significant service to education, to literacy, and to the community" in 2020. In the Fitzroy Community School book, Ms Berryman repeatedly says that parents should not always trust their children's version of events of what happens at school. "Children are expert at knowing what they need to say or do to elicit a strong response from their parents," she wrote. Australian Childhood Foundation chief executive Janise Mitchell, who read a selection of the founders' published works, said that was a "red flag". "I think that's really concerning. It's an environment that becomes quite closed," she said. The ABC repeatedly asked Ms Berryman for an interview and sent her detailed questions, including via hand-delivered letters. She did not respond. The 1980s: 'F*** chasey' and porn comic Lucy (not her real name) went to FCS in the 1980s and does not wish to be identified. She alleges Mr O'Carroll took her and other girls into his upstairs bedroom when she was about eight years old and showed them a pair of crotchless underpants. "Removing them from a bedroom dresser drawer and demonstrating how he had cut the crotch from them so he could 'f*** Faye more easily,'" Lucy said. She said the school had a game called "f*** chasey" in which boys pinned girls down and simulated sex. "When a student objected, Faye stated to them that they should be 'grateful for being chosen to be f***ed,'" Lucy said. Cassandra McFadyen started at the Brunswick Street campus in 1981, when she was eight years old. She said she had mostly fond memories and that she never felt uncomfortable with Mr O'Carroll, but she did recall him singing a suggestive song. "To the tune of 'Carolina in the morning': 'Nothing could be finer than to be in Faye's vagina in the morning,'" Ms McFadyen said. Jodie (not her real name), a student in the 1980s, has memories of her school days that "haunt" her and has asked for her identity to be concealed. Jodie alleges that on a school camp Mr O'Carroll took girls to have "cuddle time" with him in the top bunk of a bed when he was wearing just a singlet and underpants. "I remember him reading a Japanese pornographic comic at the time and would take each girl and look at the comic together while cuddling,"she said. "We thought that was normal. We thought we were pretty special to be going to this school where things were so open and free." The 2000s: A place of 'no boundaries' In 2004 Eve Dixon-Cannon was five years old and going into prep at FCS. Ms Berryman, the principal, was in the process of "passing the baton" of school leadership to her son, Tim Berryman. Early on, Ms Dixon-Cannon's father, Pat Cannon, said he was unsettled by a comment he claims Ms Berryman made. "She [Faye] said: 'We're very excited because this year two of the girls going into grade 6 are starting to pubesce,'" Mr Cannon alleged. He thought this was highly inappropriate but brushed it off. Ms Dixon-Cannon, now 26, says FCS was a place with "no boundaries". "It was an environment that was highly sexualised,"she said. Ms Dixon-Cannon said in her second year at the school, when she was six years old, she and two others girls were taken into a room by a group of boys who closed the door. "I remember it being done it a way that it felt like it was a routine," she said. Ms Dixon-Cannon said the boys took off her clothes and sexually assaulted her. "I remember being under a classroom table and then different boys being on top of me," she said. "I remember their hands all over me, being touched everywhere. Hands inside of me. "I remember … being really distressed and wanting to escape but being unable to." Ms Dixon-Cannon's mother, Jenny Dixon, arrived at school pick-up and found her daughter in tears. "Her whole body was boiling hot," Ms Dixon said. Ms Dixon did not know the full extent of what had happened, but her daughter told her that boys had hurt her in a sexual way. Ms Dixon told Ms Berryman. "[Faye] just told me that it is normal for children to explore each other's bodies, that's how they explore sexuality," she said. In the book, Ms Berryman wrote that the school's vision was to "provide an oasis where children would be able to express what they felt": "To show when they are feeling sad and be comforted; to show when they feel angry and have a caring elder to assist them to manage the anger; to show when they are feeling joy and have people celebrate with them. "When they show interest in sexual play — some little ones do — to bring them to distinguish between what is okay to express publicly and what our society insists must be private." Ms Dixon-Cannon's parents said they attended a meeting with Ms Berryman in the days after their daughter's alleged assault. "Faye immediately had her back up and the only thing she said was that 'there are no white lilies' in these situations,"Mr Cannon said. Mr Cannon interpreted that to be Ms Berryman blaming his daughter. "Obviously it's classic victim-blaming, without wanting to find out any details," he said. Ms Dixon-Cannon's parents left the meeting "livid". "We looked at each other and said, 'We're pulling Eve out,'" Mr Cannon said. Ms Dixon-Cannon said she had struggled with her mental health ever since. "I became terrified of bath time … of sleepovers, trusting other children," she said. "I really didn't like being touched. Even by family." Ms Dixon-Cannon believes the boys who hurt her were also victims of the school's culture. "It's a tragedy. [Those boys] don't deserve to live with that," she said. "I don't know what they were exposed to and that terrifies me." Late 2000s: 'Don't wear skimpy or flimsy things' Mr O'Carroll wrote a blog post the year before Ms Dixon-Cannon's alleged assault, stating women needed to be careful about what they wore. "If you desire that no sexual advances should be made, you will definitely reduce your chances of being bothered if you don't wear skimpy or flimsy things. Experienced women know such facts of life and should share their knowledge with the younger ones," the post read. Three years later, similar allegations of child-on-child abuse emerged. In 2008, five-year-old Tahli Carta-Davis started prep at the Brunswick Street terrace house. "The teachers were incredibly scary. It was a hostile place," she said. Halfway through 2008, Tahli's mother, Karina Davis, knew something "wasn't right". Her daughter was having nightmares, not wanting to go to school, and her genitals were sore. After a GP suspected sexual abuse might have occurred, Dr Davis started looking for answers and making specialist appointments. During the intervening period she said she raised concerns with the school principal, Tim Berryman. She alleged Mr Berryman called her five-year-old daughter a "liar" who behaved "suggestively". Over subsequent months, Tahli told her mother and a psychologist that she had been sexually assaulted by a group of boys on campus. Speaking to the ABC, Ms Carta-Davis, now 23, said the boys took her into a room, stripped her naked and sexually touched her. "It was violent, it was abusive and it was painful," she said. "The boys did say it was for educational purposes for them, and if I told anyone I would get in trouble." Dr Davis said that by November 2008 she had told Ms Berryman the full extent of her daughter's disclosures. "Faye told us that people were uncomfortable with the inherent sexuality of children," Dr Davis stated in a sworn affidavit to the VIT. She told the ABC that "it was positioned like we were just some sort of prudish, sexually unevolved people". Ms Carta-Davis's private psychologist told the ABC they attended the November 2008 meeting with Ms Berryman. "Blaming of the victim appeared to have occurred," the psychologist wrote in an email describing recollections of the meeting. The psychologist asked not to be identified because of their history of working with child sexual assault victims. "School staff appeared to have a limited understanding of the differences between sexual play and harmful sexual behaviour when exhibited by young children,"they said. Ms Carta-Davis's parents started trying to find their daughter a new school. Before they could, Dr Davis said she received a letter from the school asking her to leave. "I remember the letter said: 'We are not parents who support their philosophy, questioning our principles and that we were not a good fit,'" Dr Davis wrote in her affidavit to the VIT. At least 15 former students and parents have given evidence to the VIT, which investigates the conduct of teachers, alleging physical abuse, sexual abuse, bullying and neglect at the FCS over decades. Ms Carta-Davis said she had needed psychological support since the alleged assault. "It's still something I have to talk about. Every single session," she said. "My trust issues, especially with men, are pretty damaged." The ABC has repeatedly attempted to contact Faye Berryman, Tim Berryman, Philip O'Carroll and the Fitzroy Community School board. None responded to interview requests or detailed questions. Last week, the FCS board informed parents it had appointed an independent investigator, but said it was "committed as ever" to operating. "As you are already aware, the VIT has received affidavits containing allegations of incidents at our school," the July 30 letter read. "We, like all schools in this position, are obliged to report on and investigate these allegations. It is crucial that we are – and are seen to be - fair, thorough, and impartial. "Even in the midst of hostile media attention, and ongoing scrutiny, the vibrant day-to-day at school is a joyful reminder of why FCS continues to exist." The letter was sent by chair Clare Myers, a Carlton gynaecologist and surgeon, two days after the ABC sent detailed questions to the board about sexual abuse allegations. In the last fortnight the school also listed the Dan O'Connell Hotel, a landmark inner-city pub, for "sale or lease". It had planned to turn the hotel into a high school. Lawyer Michael Tanner is preparing civil cases for 16 former FCS students and their families against the school, which he described as "cult-like". "It's a large group of individuals [the clients] where the similarity of complaints are fairly consistent, whether it be physical or sexual abuse," he said. Mr Tanner said he was shocked by the lack of regulatory action against the school, despite decades of complaints. The week after the ABC revealed historical physical abuse allegations at FCS in May, the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA), launched a fresh investigation into FCS, its third since 2021, and a board member resigned. The VRQA received 16 complaints about FCS between 1979 and 2026, including five in 2021. It rejected the ABC's Freedom of Information request for details about all complaints, and advised that those prior to 2007 were "archived material". A VRQA spokesperson said the allegations of "historic child abuse at Fitzroy Community School reported by the ABC are appalling". But it said it could not investigate child safety complaints prior to 2016, when Victoria's Child Safe Standards were introduced. "The standards cannot be applied retrospectively," a VRQA spokesperson said. A June letter from VRQA chief executive Stefanie Veal to a parent acknowledged children should feel safe at school. "That has clearly not always been the case at FCS," Ms Veal wrote. Victorian Premier and Education Minister Ben Carroll declined an interview request but said in a statement that the allegations were "appalling", noting that he did not have the full details of them. Victoria Police said it encouraged "all victims of crime, including historical sexual assault, to contact police". "Victoria Police is committed to investigating matters of sexual assault and bringing those responsible to justice, no matter how much time has passed," a spokesperson said. Gretel said she and her sister were "devastated" to hear of other students allegedly suffering at FCS, years after they went to police for help. "They [the founders] need to be held accountable for what they've done to children."