St Bernard’s College

St Bernard’s College is an independent Roman Catholic school located in Essendon, Melbourne. The school is named after its patron saint, Bernard of Clairvaux (Saint Bernard). It was run by the Christian Brothers for a long time but is now part of Edmund Rice Education Australia. This is the governing body of the schools previously administered by the Christian Brothers. The school caters for years 7 to 12 and has approximately 1400 students.

Like many other Christian Brothers schools around Australia, the school has been involved in certain allegations of child sexual abuse. This is mainly in relation to Brother Robert Charles Best who has been found guilty and jailed in the past over child sexual abuse charges. The last conviction was in 2017 when Brother Best pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting 20 boys, between eight and eleven years of age, at Catholic schools including St Alipius primary school in Ballarat: St Leo’s College in Box Hill; St Bernard's College Essendon ; and St Joseph’s College in Geelong. It is noted also that another perpetrator who has received allegations against him at other schools, Father Daniel Dominic Hourigan, taught English at St Bernard’s in the 1960s.

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.

Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.