Five former employees have been found guilty of abuse at the school over a period of almost 50 years between the late 1950s and 2007.

Former house master Jonathan Harvey, 76, was at the school for 33 of these years. He took students on holidays, got them drunk, and in at least one case that landed him in prison, sexually abused them.

Five headmasters – Thomas Garnett, Charles Fisher, John Lewis, Lister Hannah and Nicholas Sampson – watched over Mr Harvey, who, for much of his time as a house master, had unsupervised access to students in his care.

The early days:

In 1971, Mr Harvey is hired as head of the maths department at the school's main campus at Corio. By 1976, he is given a 15-year tenure as head of Allen House for day boarders. He lives on the school property.

The teacher claims he was born at Windsor Castle, and often speaks about the royal family.  "He was revered by many," former principal Nicholas Sampson will tell the commission many years later. "He was courteous. He was gentlemanly in his conduct. He had a charm that belonged to another era."

But by the mid to late-1970s, principal Charles Fisher raises concerns about Mr Harvey, the commission will later hear. He claims Mr Harvey has a tendency to "create a coterie around himself" and favour particular students.

1976 "There was a sort of pattern to it"

The student known as BLF in testimony at the royal commission is one of Mr Harvey's favourites. The 16-year-old boy is regularly invited to dinner at Mr Harvey's house and plied with alcohol.

One night, as BLF is leaving Mr Harvey's home, the teacher presses against the victim and fondles his genitals.

The incident becomes routine, the victim will later tell police. Mr Harvey invites the boy to lunch, or to study maths, before placing a tumbler of sherry in the victim's hands and abusing him.

"There was a sort of pattern with it," the victim will tell the commission of the abuse, which occurred nearly every day from 1976 to 1978. "I used to respect and look up to him … I felt like I had to accommodate him as he was my school tutor ... it was something awful but it was something I felt I had to go through."

On one occasion, the victim was forced into a "threesome" with Mr Harvey and another man who was Asian while on a school trip in 1977.

The victim tells Mr Harvey to stop the abuse. Mr Harvey reminds the boy of the privileges he has been afforded and claims the abuse could never be "forensically proven".

BLF fails year 12. He does not report the abuse until 2005 – which would land Mr Harvey in prison in 2007, for 10 months, with another 22 months suspended.

1982  "I was told to keep quiet, or my job would be threatened"

A 17-year-old prefect comes home in 1982, to tell his mother he has been abused by Mr Harvey. The victim, who would become known as BKM, claimed the teacher touched his genitals and tried to have sex with him. The mother, who works at Geelong Grammar's preschool, arranges to meet the headmaster, Mr Lewis, about the incident.

She will tell the commission that Mr Lewis, who became headmaster in 1980, told her another teacher had died by suicide after similar allegations were levelled against him, and the matter should be treated with caution.

"Nothing John Lewis said gave me the feeling that he had investigated or carefully looked at the situation. He didn't inquire about [BKM]'s welfare or tell me what action the school would take ... my understanding was that it needed to be kept quiet and that, if I said anything further, my job would be threatened."

Mr Harvey would deny at the commission that he had abused BKM, claiming he simply massaged a rugby injury. "He obviously did feel uncomfortable and I'm not quite sure why."

1982 BKM is no "shrinking violet"

Soon after, Mr Lewis tells Mr Harvey that he had made the student, BKM,  "uncomfortable", and banned Mr Harvey from having pupils stay the night.

But that year, Mr Harvey would take students on school trips to south-east Asia and South Africa, and continue to do so until 1992.

And within two years of imposing the ban, Mr Lewis would allow Mr Harvey to again have students stay overnight. After all, Mr Lewis will tell the commission, the boy was "no shrinking violet".

1986 What is said off the record stays off the record

A father buttonholes the headmaster twice at cricket matches about the year 1986.

He discloses that his son, to be known as BKZ, was abused by Mr Harvey, and possibly others, on a trip to Britain.

Mr Lewis does not speak to Mr Harvey, or alert police, as the father has asked to keep the disclosure a secret. Mr Lewis will tell the commission the incident was off the record, and "in my opinion had to remain off the record".

Mr Lewis leaves Geelong in 1994 to become the headmaster at Eton College, the world's most elite posting.

At the commission he would say he believed at the time the abuse allegations against three teachers in the 1980s – Mr Harvey, Philippe Trutmann and Andrew MacCulloch – were "comparatively modest", and did not warrant a police report.

Mr Lewis would staunchly deny at the commission that he mishandled abuse allegations under his 14-year reign. He would reject counsel assisting David Lloyd's allegation of a culture of cover-up at Geelong.

2004 The golden handshake

Nicholas Sampson becomes principal of Geelong Grammar in 2001 and befriends Mr Harvey, whom he describes as a "strange but beguiling figure".

"In schools there's this sort of self‐referring mystique sometimes that builds around people, and he was part of that."

Mr Sampson hears rumours about Mr Harvey. But he investigates the teacher only in 2004, after the brother of the victim known as BLF, reveals in a "tense meeting" that his brother was abused by Mr Harvey in the 1970s.

Mr Sampson does not report the matter to police, nor does he report the teacher to the Victorian Institute of Teaching or seek counselling for the boy.

Instead, Mr Sampson meets Mr Harvey and suggests he leave a year before his retirement to avoid a "formal complaint", and with a full year's salary. Mr Sampson thanks him for his "outstanding" service in a letter.

"I was very grateful for this kind offer," Mr Harvey would tell the commission. "Mr Sampson always was very kind and very generous."

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