A whistleblowing cop who took on corruption and the church will be in Wollongong on Wednesday night to give an insight into his ordeal.
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Peter Fox, a former detective chief inspector with the NSW police, rose to national prominence in 2012 for speaking out for victims of abuse within the Catholic Church.
He had been at the coalface fighting these heinous crimes for decades. His devotion to become a whistleblower helped trigger then prime minister Julia Gillard's historic decision to establish a far-reaching royal commission into the sexual abuse of children in institutions.
Sadly the bishop who failed to hear the boys and kept things buried in house was buried near the cathedral, whereas poor Mauri is shoved out of the way in a cemetery out of Wollongong in a very humble grave.
He had no idea what speaking up would unleash. He and his family were threatened, friends shunned him, but to victims he was a hero.
Walking Towards Thunder details the cumulative horrors that police face every day. It reveals cover-ups and the way sexual predators were relocated within the church systems.
Fox spent most of his 36 years of service in the Hunter region, and came across some of the same names linked to child sexual abuse in Wollongong.
He had dedicated a chapter of his book to the Illawarra region and outlines the crimes of the late '80s, early '90s. He talks about former Mercury editor Peter Cullen and his efforts to expose abuse during that period.
And the late priest Maurie Crocker, who took allegations of the victims to the hierarchy - but when the police, priests and Bishop William Murray failed to act, Fr Crocker went to the Mercury.
Fr Crocker ended his own life in 1998.
"When I went down a couple of years ago I visited Maurie's grave and the gym he set up," Fox told the Mercury.
"Sadly the bishop who failed to hear the boys and kept things buried in house was buried near the cathedral, whereas poor Mauri is shoved out of the way in a cemetery out of Wollongong in a very humble grave.
"My view is that Maurie was the one who should have been revered and held up high, but here was the church doing the opposite."
Fox says there's no denying the book was difficult to write and speaking out had taken its toll.
"There's some horrendous abuse I investigated and wrote about," he said.
"People who had read it have said they had to put it down a few times. I couldn't write it in one go either," he said.
"We've had breakdowns, tears and thought 'was it worth doing all this?'
"Then you think 'hang on, we are still here ... some of those people have lost children and they're dealing with the aftermath and will never get over it. How can we complain'."
