Frank Arkell | |
|---|---|
| Member of theNew South Wales Parliament forWollongong | |
| In office 24 March 1984 – 3 May 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Eric Ramsay |
| Succeeded by | Gerry Sullivan |
| 8thLord Mayor of Wollongong | |
| In office 27 September 1974 – September 1991 | |
| Preceded by | John Parker |
| Succeeded by | David Campbell |
| Alderman of theWollongong City Council | |
| In office 4 December 1965 – September 1991 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1935-09-13)13 September 1935 Port Kembla,New South Wales,Australia |
| Died | 26 June 1998(1998-06-26) (aged 62) Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia |
| Alma mater | Edmund Rice College |
Francis Neville (Frank) Arkell (13 September 1935 – 26 June 1998) was an Australian politician. Arkell was a long-servingLord Mayor of Wollongong and anindependent member of theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly, representingWollongong. In 1998, at the age of 62, Arkell was violently murdered in his home byMark Valera. At the time of his death, he was under police investigation for child sex offences.[1] Continued investigation largely cleared Arkell of wrongdoing, with police concluding that a tape that supposedly recorded Arkell making sexual advances to a teenager had in fact been faked by former Wollongong mayor and pedophileTony Bevan as blackmail.[2] Arkell was a Knight of theOrder of the Star of Italy, according to his biography on the Parliament of NSW site.
Arkell was born on 13 September 1935 inPort Kembla,New South Wales.[3]
He grew up in a modest house out on the swamplands south ofWollongong, within walking distance of thePort Kembla steelworks that was built in the 1920s and which employed his truck-driving father through the Depression and beyond.[2]
The Arkells sent their sons to the localChristian BrothersCollege. This school was described by local activist and politician Paul Matters as an environment where a culture of sexual abuse and abuse of power was normalised, which occurred alongside the school's repressive approach to sexuality and morality.[2]
Between 1974 and 1991, Arkell served asLord Mayor ofWollongong City Council. He was elected as anindependent to represent the seat of Wollongong in the New South Wales Parliament from 1984 until his defeat at the 1991 election.[3]
In October 1996,Franca Arena asked in state parliament whether Arkell was the person known to theWood Royal Commission as W1 in allegations involvingpaedophilia.[4][5]
In 1998, seven years after he had left politics, Arkell was murdered at his home in Wollongong byMark Valera.[6][7] Arkell's head had been smashed in with a bedside lamp, an electric cord was wrapped tightly around his neck, and tie-pins protruded from his eyes and cheeks. According to a subsequently broadcast media report, a police investigator revealed that, at the time of his death, Arkell was "...facing charges which had not gone to court..."[8]
Valera told police that he had killed Arkell because he was a "very, very horrible man". At his trial Valera attempted to run ahomosexual advance defence, giving evidence that Arkell had seduced him and that they had been in a sexual relationship for more than a year. Valera claimed to have lost control when Arkell wanted him to be the active partner for the first time. Valera also testified that he had been a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of his own father, Jack Van Krevel, from the age of seven. In convicting Valera of murder the jury had rejected the homosexual advance defence. In sentencing Valera to two terms of life imprisonment,Justice Studdert rejected Valera's evidence that he had been sexually abused by his father or that Arkell had asked him to engage in sexual activity and that this prompted a loss of self control.[9]
| Civic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Deputy Lord Mayor of Wollongong 1968–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by John Parker | Lord Mayor of Wollongong 1974–1991 | Succeeded by |
| New South Wales Legislative Assembly | ||
| Preceded by | Member for Wollongong 1984–1991 | Succeeded by |