Politics, Pride and Perversion

Details

ISBN (print):

9781760466794

ISBN (online):

9781760466800

Publication date:

Mar 2025

Imprint:

ANU Press

DOI:

http://doi.org/10.22459/PPP.2025

Series:

Biography Series

Disciplines:

Arts & Humanities: Biography & Autobiography, History

Countries:

Australia

PDF Chapters

Politics, Pride and Perversion »

Please read Conditions of use before downloading the formats.

If your web browser doesn't automatically open these files, please download a PDF reader application such as the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

To copy a chapter DOI link, right-click (on a PC) or control+click (on a Mac) and then select ‘Copy link location’.

• Preliminary pages (PDF, 115 KB)
• List of plates (PDF, 69 KB)
• Abbreviations (PDF, 45 KB)
• A note about currency (PDF, 44 KB)
• Acknowledgements (PDF, 58 KB)
• Introduction: ‘Both a devil and a saint at the same time’—The life of Frank Arkell (PDF, 304 KB)

1. Family and kin: Growing up in Port Kembla and Steeltown (PDF, 126 KB) doi
2. School, family business and real estate (PDF, 120 KB) doi
3. ‘For the betterment of Wollongong’: From new alderman to long-serving mayor, 1965–1981 (PDF, 1.2 MB) doi
4. ‘Life in the city of Wollongong is never dull’: Local and state politics, 1981–1988 (PDF, 285 KB) doi
5. ‘A mindless vendetta against me’: Declining popularity and increasing frustration, 1985–1991 (PDF, 306 KB) doi
6. ‘Attempting to sell people a dream’: Business dealings, networks and influence (PDF, 498 KB) doi
7. ‘Wonderful, wonderful Wollongong’? Arkell’s vision for a post-industrial city (PDF, 1.1 MB) doi
8. ‘Commander Hook’ and the Wollongong paedophile network (PDF, 281 KB) doi
9. Public and private: The evidence, the allegations, the charges (PDF, 393 KB) doi
10. A wide and diverse network of abuse (PDF, 277 KB) doi
11. The University of Wollongong and its paedophile past (PDF, 657 KB) doi
12. ‘People don’t wave anymore’: The diminishing years (PDF, 117 KB) doi
13. ‘Our brother Frank was suddenly and violently taken from us’: The death of Frank Arkell (PDF, 412 KB) doi
14. ‘Wollongong is the “W” in NSW’: Frank Arkell’s political record (PDF, 149 KB) doi
15. ‘I would rather him face the courts’: The aftermath and the legacy (PDF, 128 KB) doi

• Afterword (PDF, 71 KB)
• Arkell family tree (PDF, 46 KB)
• Frank Arkell: Timeline (PDF, 78 KB)
• Bibliography (PDF, 178 KB)

Reviews

Shortlisted, NSW History Awards, NSW Community and Regional History Prize, 2025

The judges citation reads:

'Politics, Pride and Perversion masterfully transports the reader to mid- to late twentieth-century Wollongong — a time of transition from industrial to postindustrial economy, and where silence about child sexual abuse was the norm. Erik Eklund convincingly uses the life of former independent mayor and NSW parliamentarian Frank Arkell to highlight a changing city and politics, along with an underbelly of social ills.

Drawing on oral histories, newspapers, and court and police records, Eklund spotlights how Arkell challenged the political establishment — until his popularity came crashing down when allegations of his involvement in child sexual abuse rings led to criminal charges and his murder. Eklund skilfully shows how someone who was anti-establishment ultimately became the corrupt establishment. Politics, Pride and Perversion is a compelling read that uses Arkell and Wollongong as the subjects, but Eklund shows them to be universally representative of abuse of power and community trust.'