The Empty Honour Board

A prison diary, a story of brotherly love, a journey of redemption, Martin Flanagan's compelling book about his boarding school days goes inside an experience many have had but few have talked about.

In 1966, at the age of ten, Martin Flanagan was sent to a Catholic boarding school in north-west Tasmania. Of the eleven priests on the staff, three have since gone to prison for sexual crimes committed against boys in their care. In 2018 and 2019, a series of disclosures about the school appeared on the ABC Tasmania website. Then came the Pell case.

Suddenly everyone was talking about Flanagan's old school. Amid the public palaver and the media frenzy, though, he felt something was lost - the knowledge of what actually went on at a school like his. Because, for better and worse, the place did so much to shape him and his boarding contemporaries in adult life.

Love the Truth is part memoir, part retelling of the remarkable story of Flanagan's fellow students and the priests who shared this community. It's also a reflection on memory and truth and our headlong rush to judge others for actions we can't always fully comprehend. For the priests were mentors, as well as tormentors, while the boys were often the perpetrators of violence among themselves.

The story is told with vividness and humour. There's a priest 'who moved like a chess piece carrying its own brand of terror'; the rebellious kid who was caned a 'Bradmanesque' 234 times; and schoolmates with nicknames like 'Elegance' Cassidy, 'Drone' Lacey and 'Vox' Crockett. Flanagan's own contribution - 'Organ' Morgan - hints at a flair for language. Indeed, drawn to neither the school nor its religion, he discovers himself through sport, and ultimately becomes a sportswriter.

But his boarding days linger. In his first three years at the school, he'd faced a series of adult moral challenges. Not being an adult, he'd failed, not once, but in his own estimation multiple times. This becomes of great consequence in his twenties when his wife is about to have their first child. But what he learned to his cost at the age of thirteen is what gives him his strength and conviction as a journalist.

About the Author

Martin Flanagan writes for the Age newspaper and is the author of twelve books, among them "The Call", an imaginative re-construction of the life of Tom Wills, a founder of the game, and "The Last Quarter", a trilogy of his football books. What people have said about Martin Flanagan's football writing- 'Martin Flanagan must never be allowed to stop writing football. I say this because he is the only football writer I have read who is so good I think he could nearly describe a heartbeat - and that, if you want to touch the essence of football, is what you have to do.'

Don Watson 'If I'm ever prompted, I have no hesitation in nominating Martin Flanagan as my favourite writer... I only hope I can see the game off the field as well as he does.' Nathan Buckley 'I like Martin's writing, and I know most players do too, because he comes from a different perspective.' James Hird 'The best of Flanagan has a finesse and feeling that no current Australian sports-writer approaches, let alone equals.' Gideon Haigh 'I love his brain.' Kevin Sheedy