00:02Returning to the scene of a dark chapter in Catanning's past.
00:07It really was a house of horrors.
00:11Demolished last year, the site of the St Andrews Hostel brings back painful memories for Kay Anderson,
00:18who lost two of her sons to suicide after they were abused by the hostel warden, Dennis McKenna, 40 years
00:27ago.
00:27It's hard to explain, Mark, but I just feel at peace that it's gone.
00:34And Maggie Dawkins, the author of a new book detailing the battles survivors of McKenna's crimes faced
00:42to convince authorities of the decades of pedophilia at the government run St Andrews Hostel.
00:49Their visit comes a week after state prosecutors did not apply for a continuing detention order
00:56for McKenna to remain in prison when his second jail term for molesting students ends mid-November.
01:04What is their problem?
01:05Now the women are locked in another struggle.
01:08To build a $750,000 memorial here at the All Ages Playground in Catanning, funded two years ago by the
01:17state government.
01:18And just to make parents aware of what can happen, you know, because child sexual abuse is rife in our
01:26society.
01:27And they want an apology from the council for ignoring warnings about McKenna's predatory behaviour.
01:34The council voted unanimously not to have a memorial and not to offer an apology.
01:44The council acknowledges the suffering caused by McKenna and agrees a memorial should be a reminder.
01:51The current Catanning community understands that this is a dark stain on our past.
01:57We can't deny that fact. There's no hiding from it.
02:00But we would like to understand better what they need.
02:03Supreme Court Justice Marcus Solomon will make his final ruling about McKenna in October.
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