Rolf Harris dead: How Australia dropped the convicted paedophile

Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris has died at the age of 93, less than a decade after a jury found him guilty of molesting four girls and young women.

Known as ‘The Boy from Bassendean’ after the suburb of Perth where he was born, Harris was once hailed as a major Australian export after gaining fame overseas, particularly in the UK where he spent most of his lived life.

But his 2014 conviction of 12 counts of indecent assault against his victims, aged just seven to 19, including his daughter Bindi’s childhood friend, sealed his dramatic fall from grace.

There were no public statements of grief when his death was announced Tuesday evening Australian time, no florid memorials from fellow show business identities or public figures.

The man who once rubbed shoulders with royalty, painting the Queen’s portrait less than a decade before his conviction, ended his days a recluse.

The fact that the announcement of his death came two weeks after the event – on May 10 – with no news leaking in the meantime, indicated how far he had slipped from the public’s view and affection.

Immediately after the decision of the Southwark Crown Court in the UK, the Australian awards were withdrawn. He was later sentenced to five years and nine months in prison.

“Following his conviction in UK courts, the ARIA Board has taken the decision to withdraw the ARIA Hall of Fame award awarded to Rolf Harris,” the Australian Recording Industry Association said in a statement the day after his sentencing.

Australian broadcaster and artist Rolf Harris poses with the Officer of the Order of Australia presented by the High Commissioner John Dauth next to his wife Alwen at Australia House on November 7, 2012 in London

Then-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was “appalled” that Harris, once an Australian icon, had been exposed as a sexual predator.

Meanwhile, the National Museum of Australia removed a leather jacket and two wobble boards, a musical instrument he arrogantly claimed to have invented, from a display donated by the artist.

In his hometown of Perth, the City Council voted to remove works of art created by him from the chambers and also to revoke his prestigious status as an Honorary Freeman of the City.

A plaque outside his childhood home was reportedly removed by locals before it could be officially removed.

“We simply cannot tolerate the heinous crimes he has been convicted of,” Bassendean Mayor John Gangell told ABC radio.

The following year, in February 2015, the Federal Government stripped Harris of his national awards – an Officer of the Order of Australia and a Member of the Order of Australia.

Similar honors in the UK, his hat-trick of an MBE, an OBE and a CBE, were also promptly withdrawn.

In Melbourne, a public mural depicting him titled ‘Entertainers of the Century’ was painted over, while paintings he made for his former primary school were also removed.

Harris was released from prison in 2017 and was later diagnosed with neck cancer.

One day after his sentencing, his ARIA award that inducted him into the Hall of Fame was revoked (pictured accepting the award in Australia in 2008 with his signature wobble sign)

Shortly before his death, Harris would be sued by an alleged victim who claims the disgraced pedophile sexually assaulted her at an Australian adventure camp when she was ten years old.

She claims she was sexually assaulted by Harris when she and her school visited Camp Manyung in Mount Eliza, south of Melbourne, in 1982, where the disgraced child performer is said to have performed.

The alleged victim claimed that she and other children were introduced to him after one of Harris’ performances. The plaintiff says she gave Harris a card and he sat down next to her.

The woman said she spilled wax on her dress and tried to get it off when Harris offered to help.

“Then he said he could help me get the wax off,” the woman said in her claim. “It started helpful.”

But the exchange quickly turned sinister, the woman claims.

She claims Harris dragged her onto his lap and moved his hands down her leg and up her skirt in front of him sexually assaulted her.

“I remember feeling petrified, terrified and panicked,” she said.

A woman who claims Harris assaulted her at a school camp is denied justice after the disgraced recording artist and television host dies

The alleged victim claimed she tried calling and screaming before running away from Harris.

The woman claims she told a member of staff about the abuse, but Harris called her a “lying brat.” Harris is said to have then left the holiday camp.

The woman’s lead attorney, John Rule of law firm Maurice Blackburn, said his client is seeking damages for the battery against Harris, adding that the alleged assault left her with permanent psychiatric damage.

“Her claims have been absolutely consistent since I first spoke to her two years ago and through our research we have been able to confirm that Harris was in Australia and Victoria at the same time… he performed at the FL grand final ,” Rule told The Age.

“He has been convicted in the UK of molesting other young girls and in similar circumstances [to my client],’ said Rule.

A trial date was expected to be set in early 2024, but the woman’s claims will now go unanswered.