De La Salle Brothers
In Australia, the De La Salle Brothers first established themselves in 1906 in Armidale, New South Wales, where they opened De La Salle College. Between the 1920s to the 1940s there was a rapid expansion of the De La Salle Brothers, with increased recruitment in Australia and an influx of brothers from Ireland. This was the period when most of the De La Salle schools in Australia, including boarding schools, were established. There are currently 15 schools associated with De LaSalle Brothers in Australia. Between 1961 and 2001, the De La Salle Brothers ran also a residential institution called BoysTown at Beaudesert, Queensland, which accommodated boys aged between 12 and 16 in seven residential cottage. Many of boys at BoysTown were wards of the state. The order also operated a number of other children’s homes in Queensland. In 2002, BoysTown was registered as a company (BoysTown Ltd), but it continues to be owned and operated by trustees of the De La Salle Brothers.
Like many other religious orders in Australia, the De La Salle Brothers have been involved in allegations and matters dealing with institutional child sexual abuse. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in June 2017 heavily scrutinised the religious order in Analysis of Claims of Child Sexual Abuse Made with Respect to Catholic Church Institutions in Australia and provided the following data in relation how extent child sexual abuse occurred in the order between 1950 to 2010. The Royal Commission showed that:
328 people made a claim of child sexual abuse received by the De La Salle Brothers (7% of all claims of child sexual abuse).
This represents 17% of all claims received by religious institutes with only religious brother members.
Of these claims of child sexual abuse:
288 (88%) identified one or more religious brother as an alleged perpetrator.
43 (13%) identified one or more lay person as an alleged perpetrator.
Seven (2%) identified one or more priest as an alleged perpetrator.
Some claims identified more than one alleged perpetrator with differing religious statuses.
12 (34%) people made a claim of child sexual abuse which identified more than one alleged perpetrator.
242 (74%) people who made a claim of child sexual abuse also made an allegation of physical abuse.
The average age of the claimants at the time of the alleged child sexual abuse was 13 years of age.
27% of claimants were under the age of 13 years at the time of the alleged child sexual abuse and 73% were between 13 and 18 years of age (where the age was known).
77% of claimants alleged that the incidents of child sexual abuse occurred in the period from 970 to 1989 (inclusive).
BoysTown Beaudesert was identified by the Royal Commission as having the highest number of claims of child sexual abuse with 219 claims against this institution. Allegations go back to the 1980s.
Schools associated with the De La Salle Brothers where allegations of child sexual abuse have been made against include:
De La Salle College Carinbah;
De La Salle College Scarborough (now called Southern Cross Catholic College);
De La Salle College Malvern;
De La Salle College Orange; and
Moody Law has represented and is still representing clients who have made allegations of sexual and physical abuse when they were students and/or residents at schools and institutions run by the De La Salle Brothers.
We invite former students, teachers and parents to contact us to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.
Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.