More than four decades after Wayne Clarke was abused by Puffing Billy sex offender Robert Whitehead, he feels like he can finally move on from the traumatic experience.
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Mr Clarke was among Whitehead's victims to receive a formal apology from the Victorian government over the abuse in state parliament on Wednesday.
"It's the end of the whole 44 years for me now," Mr Clarke told reporters on the steps of parliament following the apology.
"So hopefully I can get on with my life and enjoy it - the rest of it."
Whitehead had used his position at the Puffing Billy steam train in Melbourne's Dandenong Ranges to abuse children for decades, while the tourist attraction's board repeatedly failed to report complaints to police.
He was first convicted and jailed in 1959 for child sex abuse and when released, was re-employed as a rail worker and volunteered with Puffing Billy before going on to assault six children between the 1960s and 1980s.
He died in jail in 2015 after pleading guilty to 24 charges.
Premier Daniel Andrews said for generations Puffing Billy has been a place for "memories bathed in sunshine".
But beneath that veneer lay "a much darker, much more sinister truth", where abuse was carried out and ignored.
"People knew. People knew and they did nothing. Some of our most trusted institutions and individuals not only failed to speak up, they even tried to cover it up," the premier said.
"If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village as well to utterly fail a child."
Mr Andrews said there is no way the state can restore all that has been stolen but it can end the culture of secrecy.
"On behalf of the parliament, the government, and the people of Victoria, for every childhood that was stolen, for every future that was compromised, for every family that was betrayed and for every life that was destroyed, we are sorry," he said.
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass recommended a state apology last year after investigating Whitehead.
She also examined Anthony Hutchins' decades-long involvement in Puffing Billy before he was convicted of 66 child sex offences against five boys in 1987.
Mr Clarke said although he will be dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder over Whitehead's abuse for the rest of his life, Wednesday's apology was a "dream come true".
Fellow Whitehead victim Justin Drew said there's still a "long journey" to go for him to deal with the abuse, but the apology had helped.
"It's a big weight off my shoulders," he told reporters.
Australian Associated Press
