Erik Eklund with his latest book, a biography of Frank Arkell. Photo: Supplied.
He was once hailed as “Mr Wollongong”, a tireless lord mayor who appeared at endless events — even weddings — promising brighter days for the city.
But behind Frank Arkell’s polished public image lay devastating secrets that would ultimately lead to his brutal murder.
Author, historian and former Wollongong resident Erik Eklund’s latest biography, Politics, Pride and Perversion: The Rise and Fall of Frank Arkell, will be featured as part of the True Story Festival in Coledale on 15 November.
During the event, Eklund will chat with Professor Sue Turnbull about the two sides of Arkell — the man who dominated Wollongong’s political landscape for 17 years by channelling hope during tough economic times, and the man under investigation for child-sex offences that would lead to his murder.
“Like a lot of people during the ’70s and ’80s, I came across Arkell in public forums,” Eklund said.
“He was just a fixture of political life and civic life.”
Decades later, when Eklund decided Arkell was an ideal candidate for a biography, he was surprised no-one had tackled his story before.
“He’s such a challenging subject but, in many ways, the ideal subject, so it was a big surprise to me that there’s so little on Frank,” he said.
“There was this whole air of mystery about someone we all knew about, we had heard some rumours and other concerns about him, but there was very little to flesh out the man himself.”
Arkell was elected to Wollongong Council in 1965, and became lord mayor in 1974, holding the position for 17 years. He was also the local MP for the seat of Wollongong from 1984-91.
Eklund spoke to journalists and former councillors, who all admitted he was hard to get to know and to “pierce that exterior of being an eccentric, single-minded lord mayor”.
He said he had set out to write a political biography, answering the questions: “Why was he so popular? Why was he lord mayor for 17 years.”
“I wanted to get a sense of the ideas and policies he put forward, and why people voted for him,” he said.
“His speeches tended to say the same thing — ‘We live in a wonderful place’, ‘Wollongong has a great future’, and ‘Stick with me and I can deliver’.”
During the two recessions in the ’70s and early ’80s, that was an appealing message, Eklund said.
“I think the other crucial dimension to his success was just the sheer energy he put into the work of going to meetings, of networking, of working the media, two or three events every night of the week,” he said, which included people’s weddings.
“I think particularly in the ’70s and early ’80s, people felt like he was around and available, and felt like that was a sign he really cared.
“Of course, the other challenge was the rumours and concerns about his private life and eventually the 29 charges of sexual abuse that were levelled in 1997.”
Eklund spoke to victim survivors of Arkell’s alleged sexual abuse, went through transcripts of the Wood Royal Commission, where Arkell was known as W1, and spoke to a man connected to former Wollongong mayor Tony Bevan’s pedophile network.
“I knew the police were circling and there was a court case pending,” he said.
Arkell never stood trial, instead being brutally murdered three months before the court case was heard.
“It’s a tragic story, because you have people that wanted Frank to go through the justice system,” Eklund said.
“You had people that still believed he was innocent, and they claim to this day he would have been found not guilty.
“There were those that knew what was going on and wanted to see some sort of justice. That was denied to all and sundry by what happened in late June 1998.”
Eklund said that by 1997, Arkell had lost popular support, lost his office and his role as lord mayor, and was the subject of much negative public comment.
The royal commission mentioned him in coded terms as W1, before a NSW Labor politician outed him in parliament by revealing the code was actually Arkell.
Now at his lowest, Arkell then encounters Mark Valera, a 19-year-old with a history of sexual abuse.
“Valera had already killed one person, just a random killing of a man in Albion Park,” Eklund said.
“He heard about Frank in the media, and decided Frank would be his next victim.”
He said Valera “brutally murdered Frank in quite a ghastly fashion” in his home, later giving himself in to police.
While many readers had shared their stories with Eklund from the time, he appreciated that for others it was a time they didn’t want to return to.
The book was also shortlisted for the 2025 NSW Community and Regional History Prize and longlisted for Australian Political Book of the Year.
Politics, Pride and Perversion: The Rise and Fall of Frank Arkell is available free online via ANU Press and hardcopies for purchase.
Purchase tickets and see the full program for True Story Festival, featuring Australian non-fiction writers on 15 November at Coledale.
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