Reynolds was jailed for at least nine years last June after brazenly abusing 38 students at multiple schools, particularly in the North East.

His behaviour was first reported in February 1960 but he continued to target children aged five to 12 until 1992.

Judge Gabriele Cannon last year noted there had been "catastrophic" failures by authorities to act.

Those failures led to the former Myrtleford Primary School student being awarded $1,552,725 in the Supreme Court this week after a trial.

The victim had never told anyone about the abuse due to the shame, but opened up about it when Wodonga police made contact in 2017.

Now in his 40s, the man hoped the outcome would prevent others from being abused, telling them "you're not alone".

"Reynolds should have been in prison in 1984, not in my classroom," he said.

"I'm hoping my win stops the same thing happening to other kids."

IN OTHER NEWS:

The court heard there were six instances of abuse, possibly more, against the victim by Reynolds over several months.

Reynolds put his hands in the back of his pants in class and on the final occasion touched his penis, causing the boy to hit him and swear at him and the abuse to stop.

The victim felt angry, confused and embarrassed, and the court heard he had PTSD and chronic depression.

He took a shotgun from his father's wardrobe in the 1990s but was talked out of taking any action by family members.

Doctors noted the abuse had changed his life trajectory and caused "substantial underachievement".

Grace Wilson of Rightside Legal said this week's outcome against the Education Department was important for sex abuse survivors.

"Institutions that harbour paedophiles need to understand that if you wreck someone's mental health and you wreck someone's career, you should not be asking that person to go quietly with a small sum of money," she said.

"If your mental health and your career have been wrecked by someone who is known to be a paedophile, you're entitled to proper compensation.

"Reynolds was first caught in 1960 when a very brave kid from the Ballarat area told his family what he'd done.

"Reynolds left that school and if that had been investigated and the Education Department had responded appropriately at that time, more than 40 kids could have been spared from a lifetime of trauma."

The legal firm is making claims for 20 more people against the jailed teacher.