The former principal of a Maryborough high school has faced a Bendigo court on historical sexual abuse charges.
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Peter William Harris, 78, appeared in Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Tuesday for a filing hearing.
Dr Harris is charged with committing an act of gross indecency in the presence of a male person, two counts of indecently assaulting a male person, indecent assault, and knowingly possessing child abuse material.
The first four charges relate to alleged crimes that occurred in Castlemaine in 1975, Maryborough in 1975 and 1983, and East Melbourne in 1976.
Dr Harris is also accused of possessing child abuse material at Tullamarine on October 22 this year, the day the Central Victoria Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team charged him with the offences.
Dr Harris was appointed founding principal of Maryborough's Highview College, then named Christian Community College, the year before the school opened in 1974.
He was also founding principal of Billanook College in Melbourne in the 1980s and worked at Melbourne's Haileybury College in the 1960s and 1970s.
More recently, Dr Harris had worked on sustainability in schools in Thailand.
Dr Harris will next appear at court for a committal mention on April 1 next year.
His bail was extended with conditions he report to Bendigo police station weekly, live at an Epsom address, surrender his passport, not attend points of international departure and not contact witnesses for the prosecution.
Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Alan Walker told the court the police informant was still trying to find witnesses, both in Australia and overseas.
A law firm representing one of the alleged victims in a civil case also applied for documents relating to the matter.
Magistrate Michael Coghlan granted access to the charge sheets with the alleged victims' names and Dr Harris' contact details redacted, saying the court did not have the other material and releasing it prior to the charges being heard would be prejudicial.