Francis Neville (Frank) Arkell (13 September 193526 June 1998) was an Australian politician. Arkell was a long-serving Lord Mayor of Wollongong and an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

, representing

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

. In 1998 Arkell was violently murdered in his home, aged 62 years. His home was exposed as the venue of

pedophile Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

parties with some boys brought from Brisbane and the Gold Coast, with Arkell identified as the one paying money to the traffickers. Arkell was a Knight of the

Order of the Star of Italy The Order of the Star of Italy ( it, Ordine della Stella d'Italia ) is an Italian order of chivalry that was founded in 2011. The order was reformed from the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity by the 11th President of Italy, Giorgio Napoli ...

, according to his biography on the Parliament of NSW site.

Early life

Arkell was born on 13 September 1935 in

Port Kembla A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He grew up in a modest house out on the swamplands south of

, within walking distance of the

steelworks that was built in the 1920s and which employed his truck-driving father through the Depression and beyond. The Arkells sent their sons to the local Christian Brothers

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

. The most infamous of Wollongong's pederasts, former mayor

Tony Bevan Tony Bevan (born 1951) is a British painter, known for his psychologically charged images of people at the edge of respectable society. Biography Bevan was born in Bradford, Yorkshire. He studied at Bradford School of Art from 1968 to 1971, fo ...

, went to the Christian Brothers College around the same time as Frank Arkell, as did

Brian Tobin Brian Vincent Tobin (born October 21, 1954) is a Canadian businessman and former politician. Tobin served as the sixth premier of Newfoundland from 1996 to 2000. Tobin was also a prominent Member of Parliament and served as a cabinet minister i ...

, a city councilor who later became a regular customer of Bevan's teenage male prostitutes.

Political career

Between 1974 and 1991, Arkell served as Lord Mayor of

Wollongong City Council The City of Wollongong is a local government area in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated adjacent to the Tasman Sea, the Princes Motorway and the Illawarra railway line. Located south of Sydney central busi ...

. He was elected as an

to represent the seat of Wollongong in the New South Wales Parliament from 1984 until his defeat at the 1991 election.

Later life and death

In October 1996,

Franca Arena Franca Arena (; born 23 August 1937) is an Australian politician and activist. She was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1981, first for the Labor Party then as an Independent from 1997 until she left the Council in 19 ...

asked in state parliament whether Arkell was the person known to the

Wood Royal Commission The Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service, also known as the Wood Royal Commission, was a royal commission held in the State of New South Wales, Australia between 1995 and 1997. The Royal Commissioner was Justice James Ro ...

as W1 in allegations involving

paedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty ...

. In 1998, seven years after he had left politics, Arkell was murdered at his home in Wollongong by

Mark Valera Mark Valera (previously Mark van Krevel) (born 24 April 1979) is an Australia, Australian serial killer who was convicted in 2000 of the murders of David O'Hearn and Frank Arkell in Wollongong, New South Wales. Valera handed himself into police ...

. Arkell's head had been smashed in with a bedside lamp, an electric cord was wrapped tightly around his neck, and tie-pins protruded from his eyes and cheeks. According to a subsequently broadcast media report, a police investigator revealed that, at the time of his death, Arkell was "...facing charges which had not gone to court..." Valera told police that he had killed Arkell because he was a "very, very horrible man". At his trial Valera attempted to run a homosexual advance defence, giving evidence that Arkell had seduced him and that they had been in a sexual relationship for more than a year. Valera claimed to have lost control when Arkell when wanted him to be the active partner for the first time. Valera also testified that he had been a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of his own father, Jack Van Krevel, from the age of seven. In convicting Valera of murder the jury had rejected the homosexual advance defense. In sentencing Valera to two terms of life imprisonment, Justice Studdert rejected Valera's evidence that he had been sexually abused by his father or that Arkell had asked him to engage in sexual activity and that this prompted a loss of self control..

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arkell, Francis 1935 births 1998 deaths Mayors and Lord Mayors of Wollongong Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian murder victims People murdered in New South Wales People from Wollongong 20th-century Australian politicians Independent members of the Parliament of New South Wales