St Brendan’s College, Yeppoon

St. Brendan's College in Yeppoon, Queensland is a Roman Catholic all-boys day and boarding school opened by the Christian Brothers in 1940. The school at that time had 42 boarders and 17 day-students. Bu 2000, the school had approximately 675 students with 420 being residential boarders. The School has a close relationship with St Ursula's College, Yeppoon, a separate Catholic all-girls day and boarding school located further into the centre of Yeppoon. Both St Brendan’s and St Ursula share a relationship with a Catholic primary school in Yeppoon, Sacred Heart. St Brendan’s is administered by Edmund Rice Education Australia and lies within the Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton.

Like many other Christian Brothers schools around Australia, the School has been involved in allegations dealing with child sexual abuse. Some of these allegations have mainly dealt with the perpetrator Brother Damian O’Dempsey who taught at the School around the early 1970s. Brother O’Dempsey was a teacher, boarding house master and rugby coach at St. Brendan’s. Royal Commission records show that Brother O’Dempsey had been sexually and physically abusing students at different schools in Queensland and New South Wales since 1958. Furthermore, he was convicted on two occasions and consequently jailed.

Moody Law is currently representing a client who has made allegations of sexual abuse by Brother Damian O’Dempsey when he was a student and boarder at St Brendan’s.

We invite former victims, students, teachers, or parents 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.