Child migrants shipped to Western Australia tell of abuse by Christian Brothers

Men now aged 72 and 67 give evidence to London inquiry about abuse in Perth in the 1950s

Two men who were shipped from Britain to Western Australia as children in the 1950s have told an inquiry in London of their abuse by Christian Brothers paedophiles.

One witness, now 72 and living in Perth and referred to as A4 to protect his identity, told the UK's child sex abuse inquiry he had been in orphanages in Britain since he was a baby before being shipped to WA in 1953 at the age of eight as a child migrant.

He said he was sent to the boys' home at Castledare where he was sexually abused by Brother Lawrence Murphy.

He said Murphy woke him up one night in the dormitory to say he must go to the toilet, but instead led him to his bedroom.

A4 said from then on he would freeze in his dorm bed at the sound of footsteps until they passed, feeling sorry for any other boy selected by the brother that night.

He said he could not tell anyone about the abuse as he knew he would just get a belting for lying.

A4 said he now knew the Christian Brothers were shielding a paedophile ring in WA. "It was a feast of kids at an orphanage, they had their own little pool, little school of boys that they could choose from."

A4 said he finally broke his silence about the abuse he suffered when he saw Murphy deny any wrongdoing on a 60 Minutes report about the Christian Brothers in 1993.

Because when people did report it to either Church authorities, or to the police, they were generally ignored. Which meant there seemed to be little point in reporting it.

Australia is currently having a Royal Commission (a high level legal inquiry) into historical institutional child abuse which is why a lot of these accounts are finally coming out. Catholic orders are certainly implicated, but they are far from the only ones - such abuse also occurred in many schools, especially boarding schools, of various denominations and religions, and secular state schools as well, in youth groups, both religious and secular, in sporting groups... basically anywhere where people had an opportunity to gain access to children, there was a minority who took advantage of that opportunity to prey on those children. And it was largely ignored and covered up. It was only a minority of the people involved - but they existed.

People didn’t want to believe it was happening in many cases.

There may be some false claims - the lure of compensation may certainly attract some. But the Royal Commission is largely public and the testimony is largely public and the evidence of abuse is quite clear in many cases. And people finally feel able to be heard.

The school I attended as a boy has been implicated. The school I teach at now has been. The Navy that I served for over twenty years has been implicated (the RAN used to admit boys as Midshipman until the 1970s - I was one of them - and junior recruits under 18 far longer - in fact, even today, some join at 17, but it used to be even younger). It’s horrific and I wish it wasn’t true. But it really can’t be denied. The evidence is there.

It is really important to stress that it was only a minority of people who preyed on the children, and only a minority - albeit a larger one - who ignored what was happening. But it was happening and if we don’t acknowledge that now, we let their evil cause even more damage.

“Christian Brothers? Sounds like rotgut brandy.”

The Congregation of Christian Brothers (officially, in Latin: Congregatio Fratrum Christianorum; members of the order use the post-nominal “CFC”) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Edmund Rice (later beatified).[1]:24–25 The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelisation and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with the poor. Their first school was opened in Waterford, Ireland, in 1802. . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_of_Christian_Brothers

The background to this is that between the 1920s and 1960s about 150,000 young children were sent from orphanages and other institutions in Britain to a new life in Australia. This was an officially sanctioned programme sponsored by reputable charities, churches etc. Many were children of unmarried mothers who were separated from their babies at birth.

Only in recent years has it become known that many of these children, far from finding a happier life in their new country, were cruelly treated, exploited as child labour, or subject to various forms of abuse including sexual, as reported here. The various abuses only became widely known in the last decade, creating a major scandal in both countries.

The Inquiry currently taking place is into the wider question of historic child sexual abuse in the UK. The Australian migrants are just one aspect of this, but they're the focus of the hearings in recent days. So we have two parallel historical issues: the Australian Child Migrant Programme as a whole, of which sexual abuse is only one aspect: and an Inquiry into the extent of historical child sexual abuse in Britain, of which some of the Australian orphans are only one aspect. I hope that's clear!

Oh... and none of this has anything at all to do with recent/current migration fromn the Middle East etc.

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