Brother Lawrence Murphy
Brother Lawrence Hyacinth Murphy was a former member of the Christian Brothers who served/taught mainly in Western Australia and South Australia. Royal Commission records show that he served at the following institutions:
Tardun Farm School - Tardun, Western Australia;
Castledare - Queens Park, Western Australia (1944 to 1954);
Clontarf Orphanage - Manning, Western Australia (1955);
Christian Brothers College - Adelaide (Wakefield Street), South Australia (1955/1956 to 1970).
Brother Murphy also served at other institutions/locations throughout his career including Melbourne (Vic), Albany (WA), and Whyalla (SA) until he left the Order in 1980/1981. Visitation records show that Brother Murphy was described as a very efficient teacher/administrator who knew how to control and train children under his supervision/care. However, Royal Commission records on the other hand report that Brother Murphy was described by his victims as being a very possessive and domineering person, who was emotionally, physically and sexually abusive.
Throughout his service, allegations of physical and sexual abuse were made to the Christian Brothers and the limited records available indicate that he was moved on by the Christian Brothers to another institution/location as a means of dealing with his behaviour and the allegations made against him. For example, an affidavit made by the Superior of Clontarf - Brother Doyle - reported that allegations of interference on a child were made against Brother Murphy in 1955. Brother Murphy denied the allegations but the Provincial at the time - Brother Garvey - decided that it would be best to relocate him to Albany, Western Australia. The same pattern seemed to have occurred when he was teaching at Christian Brothers College in Adelaide, South Australia. It is reported that some allegations were made against Brother Murphy around 1970 and that the Christian Brothers moved him on to Whyalla so that he could apparently improve his teaching technique to align with modern methods.
In May 1997, Brother Murphy was arrested in Adelaide and extradited to Western Australia on charges of unlawful carnal knowledge and indecent dealing. In 1998, it was deemed that there was enough evidence for a jury to convict Brother Murphy (then aged 80 at the time) but was ruled medical unfit to stand for trial. Brother Murphy died shortly afterwards.
Moody Law has in the past and is still representing clients who have made allegations of sexual and physical abuse against members of the Christian Brothers at various schools and institutions around Australia.
We invite former victims to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.
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