Robert Brandenburg

Robert Brandenburg was born in 1936. He was involved in the Church of England Boys’ Society (CEBS) as a layperson and was not at any stage a member of the clergy. He rose to senior positions within CEBS in South Australia and nationally in the late 1960s.

In April 1981, Robert Brandenburg was deposed as commissioner of CEBS in South Australia at an election. At around this time, Robert Brandenburg also ceased to be a salaried employee of CEBS, apparently due to CEBS no longer having the funds to employ him. In around 1981, Robert Brandenburg became an employee of the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide with responsibilities for the management of campsites and parish liaison. On 21 January 1989, Robert Brandenburg’s employment was transferred to Anglicare SA. Anglicare SA was originally known as Anglican Community Services, however, it adopted the name Anglicare SA in round 1998 and was separately incorporated as Anglicare SA in 2000. Bishop George said that, although it was separately incorporated, it was still very much part of the diocesan structure. Robert Brandenburg retired from Anglicare SA on 31 July 1998.

On 24 May 1999, Robert Brandenburg was charged with 34 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and 341 counts of indecent assault. On 2 June 1999, two days before he was due to appear in court, Robert Brandenburg took his own life by drowning.

In 2017, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard that at one stage Brandenburg’s former boss, former Anglicare SA Chief Executive, Mr. Gerard Menses, had been aware of allegations of Brandenburg taking boys alone to camp sites and sexually abusing them. It is further reported that Mr. Menses had not informed the proper authorities due to the advice he was given by his solicitor. Brandenburg’s behaviour followed a consistent pattern of involvement with boys in which he had been involved three years earlier in a disciplinary meeting with Mr. Menses over bathing naked in a spa with a 10-year old boy.

Moody Law has recently represented a client who was a victim of sexual abuse by Robert Brandenburg in South Australia. We are further representing other clients who have made other allegations of sexual abuse against Robert Brandenburg.

We invite former victims 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.

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