AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 11 May 2014)
Child-abuse at four Catholic orphanage-type institutions was so bad (and was so well covered-up) that the Christian Brothers earned a reputation many years ago as the “Christian Buggers”, Australia’s national child-abuse Royal Commission was told during public hearings in April-May 2014.
The senior barrister assisting the Royal Commission, Ms Gail Furness, said at a public hearing that the mention of “Christian Buggers” was made in a report from the UK House of Commons, referring to four Catholic institutions in Western Australia. These institutions housed disadvantaged boys, many of whom were orphans shipped to Australia from the UK and Malta during migration schemes.
Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held two weeks of public hearings in Perth in April-May 2014 to investigate how the Christian Brothers and successive West Australian governments responded to allegations of horrific abuse at four Christian Brothers institutions in the two decades to 1968. The Institutions were:
* Bindoon (St Joseph’s Farm and Trade School);
* Castledare (Castledare Junior Orphanage);
* Clontarf (St Vincent’s Orphanage); and
* Tardun (St Mary’s Agricultural School).
Eleven former residents of the institutions told the Royal Commission about indecent assaults, beatings, child labour, neglect and cruelty by the Christian Brothers. The abuse was successfully covered up by the Christian Brothers community.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.