AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
By a Broken Rites researcher
Article posted on 14 April 2012
In 2011 the Catholic religious order of De La Salle Brothers agreed to offer an out-of-court settlement to a former pupil (let’s call him “Zachary” — not his real name), who lived at BoysTown, a Catholic institution in Beaudesert, Queensland, for a part of the 1960s.
This institution, to which disadvantaged boys were sent in their early teens, was established in 1961 by Monsignor Owen Steele, who was the parish priest in charge of St Mary’s parish at Beaudesert, south of Brisbane.
The institution was staffed by De La Salle Brothers, assisted by some lay employees. In the 1960s, the senior De La Salle Brother at BoysTown was Brother Alban Dwyer. Later, other members of De La Salle Brothers took over as the administrator and as assistants. The institution closed in 2001.
In 2010, “Zachary” served a civil demand on the De La Salle headquarters (in Sydney) regarding certain actions which he alleged were inflicted on him at BoysTown in the 1960s.
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