Half a century later, she finally has justice.

After revealing her “toxic, dirty secret”  to a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse in 2013, Ms Swannell launched legal action against the Wagga Catholic Diocese and the Wagga Presentation Sisters.

After a ferocious mediation process she described as “like an auction for my soul”, the church last month awarded her damages and offered an official apology.

“I had to fight to the death, they were so combative,” Ms Swannell said.

“The sad thing is that it would never have even got to mediation if it wasn’t for the media pressure from The Daily Advertiser and the ABC.

“I only hope this paves the way for other victims that have been abused to get justice.”

While boarding at Urana’s St Francis Xavier as a six-year-old, Ms Swannell was digitally penetrated by Father Charles Holdsworth and forced to watch him masturbate on multiple occasions in the church confessional box.

When she reported the abuse to the head nun, she said she was told: “That man is hand-picked by God.”

She said the Presentation Sisters had been “compliant and compassionate” through the mediation process but accused the Wagga Diocese of making the ordeal as traumatic as possible.

“The whole process is so unfair; it’s designed to kill you of natural causes,” she said.

It comes as the Catholic church has vowed to treat sexual abuse victims with more compassion. Ms Swannell said she was forced to confront 14 barristers acting for the church during the mediation, which ran for six-and-a-half hours straight.

The church’s head of truth, justice and healing, Francis Sullivan, said they were determined to treat victims fairly and compassionately.