A Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing Fremantle schoolboys in the 1980s was also known for kissing and touching younger members of his flock in another southern Perth parish in the 1970s.
This is just one of the revelations to emerge after Perth man Travis Adams came forward this week with his story of alleged sexual abuse by Carmelite Father Damian Barker.
Mr Adams is suing the Victorian-based Carmelite Fathers and the Christian Brothers for failing to protect him and other boys from alleged abuse by Fr Barker at CBC Fremantle in 1984 and 1985.
Many people contacted the ABC to tell of their experiences of observing and receiving Fr Barker's kisses on the lips, hugs and caresses while they were students.
Some noted that Fr Barker's overly affectionate behaviour was out of step with the social norms of the day, where many fathers did not even hug or kiss their sons.
This included one man, who could not be named, who said he knew Fr Barker as his local priest in the Mount Carmel parish in Hilton in the early 1970s.
He said Fr Barker's "touchy feely" behaviour towards primary school-aged boys and girls was in full view of the community.
"He would grab them, hug them, kiss them on the lips," he said.
"He did it blatantly in front of parents and other kids."
He said Fr Barker would invite himself over to families' houses for dinner "and you couldn't say no".
But after his no-nonsense father observed the priest's physical interactions with children, he warned the priest to never go near his children again – and they were left alone.
The priest later left the parish, although it's unknown where he moved to.
"I'm 100 per cent sure that he was removed ... under a cloud because of his behaviour," the man said.
But he was surprised to later learn that Fr Barker turned up at CBC Fremantle in the 1980s.
"He was absolutely a full-blown paedophile," he said.
Yallingup man Matt Muir recalls thinking Fr Barker's behaviour towards students at CBC Fremantle was not right within months of meeting him in 1986.
'Alarm bells were ringing'
He attended the junior school at its Tuckfield St campus, which has since been demolished.
"Coming from a Catholic background and other numerous parishes and knowing the brothers and working with priests, it wasn't the sort of behaviour that I really appreciated or thought was correct," he said.
"And straight away I looked at it and the alarm bells were sort of ringing straight away."
He said Fr Barker was not teaching at the school then but would often appear during recess, lunchtime and when they were waiting for the bus.
"Apart from the behaviour in the playground – the kissing of the boys, that sort of thing – we used to have to catch a bus from Tuckfield St down to Fremantle to get to the train station," he said.
"And all the students would line up and Fr Barker would come out and see all the students.
"As well as kissing them, he would pull up their shirts and inappropriately touch their navels and their chest."
Questions need to be answered
Mr Muir said he believes Fr Barker's legacy now needs to be examined, after Mr Adams came forward with his allegations.
"It needs to be transparent and it needs to come out," he said.
Another man, who attended CBC Fremantle from 1982 to 1988, remembers Fr Damian's behaviour as "textbook grooming, both of us as young people and of those responsible for protecting us".
In an email to the ABC, he said Fr Barker insisted on kissing them on the lips as "a sign of God's divine love".
"My greatest stand-out recollection was an occasion at a public event outside of school hours and location where [Fr Barker] came up behind me and was caressing my neck," he wrote.
A former student teacher at CBC Fremantle in the 1980s said he remembered Fr Barker as "friendly, gregarious and an integral part of the school".
He said he enjoyed his two-week practical training, where the chaplain was the first person to come up to him and introduce himself.
But he said Fr Barker's openly affectionate behaviour with his students was odd.
"He was making physical contact with the boys," he said.
"He would embrace and kiss a kid on the face."
The ABC has asked the Carmelite Fathers (Victoria), Catholic Archdiocese of Perth, CBC Fremantle, the Christian Brothers and Edmund Rice Education Australia for more information about Fr Barker.
None of them would provide any details.
Both the Carmelite Fathers and Christian Brothers said they were unable to comment, given Mr Adams' civil action.
They 'need to open the books'
CBC Fremantle principal Domenic Burgio contacted school families on Tuesday to alert them to Mr Adams' civil claim and the ABC's story but did not name Fr Barker.
"It is critical that we honour the survivors and victims of institutionalised abuse by doing our utmost to acknowledge that abuse in the first instance, provide solace as best we can and put in place steps that try [to] ensure child abuse and covering up never happens again," he wrote.
McGowan government minister Dave Kelly, a former CBC Fremantle student, has called on Catholic Archbishop Timothy Costelloe to be more transparent about historical child sexual abuse by priests.
"He should open the books," he said.
"Tell us which paedophiles operated at these schools, and make it that little bit easier for victims to come forward."
Archbishop Costelloe declined to comment.
