John White says he was abused during his time at HMAS Leeuwin between 1969-71. More than 100 former cadets made complaints to the Royal Commission.

FORMER senior officers at a Fremantle naval base where decades of sexual abuse is believed to have taken place say they knew nothing about it.

Geoffrey Curran, the divisional officer at HMAS Leeuwin in 1971, and Peter Sinclair, second-in-charge from 1973-1975, took the stand on day two of the Royal Commission into sexual abuse within the Australian Defence Force.

On day one, former cadets told horrific stories of physical and sexual abuse. One former cadet, who adopted the pseudonym CJA, said he was raped and was forced to rape fellow cadets.

“On multiple occasions I was snatched in the middle of a night and dragged to a sports oval,” he said.

“I was forced to suck another recruit’s penis or lick a junior recruit’s anus ... Other times I was forced to have anal intercourse with junior recruits or I was raped by another junior recruit who was directed to do so by the older recruits or base staff.”

But Mr Curran, who himself joined the Navy as a 16-year-old in 1954, denied having any knowledge of such abuse.

“It was a gut wrenching experience for me listening to it,” he said during Wednesday’s first session.

“There would have been talk of some incidents but I was never directly involved in any complaint or investigation.”

Mr Sinclair said he was “appalled” by “two plausible incidents of abuse” during his time at Leeuwin, but refused to allow the base to be characterised as “harsh”.

“(It was) a tough environment. Challenging. I’m not sure what you mean by harsh,” he told council assisting Angus Stewart.

Angus Stewart is asking questions of former officers at HMAS Leeuwin during day one of the Royal Commission into sexual abuse within the ADF. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

He denied there was a tradition of bullying or that officers showed no sympathy for young recruits.

“Absolutely not. Totally the opposite. Sympathy? Was there no sympathy for the junior recruits? No, I think that’s totally incorrect. I think you’re exaggerating the situation completely.

“We were preparing young men for a life at sea. My whole aim was to make clear the purpose of their training, the purpose of the discipline. I do not agree with you that there was a lack of sympathy, I don’t understand what you mean.”

Mr Sinclair said he did not “sit in my office and mope” about what had happened in the past after joining in the early 1970s and did not see any senior officers imposing themselves on juniors boys.

“That certainly didn’t happen during my time,” he said. “I wouldn’t have permitted it.”

Asked about Tuesday’s evidence, he said he was “horrified and appalled”.

“It did surprise me because it was totally foreign to anything I’d experienced.”

The commission has heard from 111 people who experienced physical, mental and sexual abuse within the ADF. Of those, 50 involved child abuse at HMAS Leeuwin and at Balcolme in Victoria.

Thirty people are expected to give evidence before commissioners Justice Peter McClellan, Robert Fitzgerald and Professor Helen Milroy.

It follows the establishment of a taskforce in 2012 to deal with as many as 2400 historical complaints.

The hearing continues in Sydney before Justice Peter McClellan until July 1.

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