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Abuse claims at four WA Christian Brothers’ school ...
By Emily Moulton
CLAIMS of widespread child sex abuse at four Christian Brothers-run WA boarding schools will be investigated as part of a nationwide inquiry. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold its first WA public hearing at the end of this month. It will hear from dozens of former boarders who spent time as young boys at Castledare Junior Orphanage in Wilson, St Vincent’s Orphanage in Clontarf, St Mary’s Agricultural School in Tardun, and Bindoon Farm School. The inquiry will be one of the biggest investigations into claims of child sex abuse ever held in WA, with not only the Catholic Church under the spotlight but also successive WA governments. It is understood the victims claim they were tortured, raped and degraded by Catholic priests while they were living at the residences run by the Christian Brothers. The Catholic Church has been accused in the past of systematic cover-ups by simply moving paedophile priests from one parish or home to the next if complaints were lodged. It is expected the Royal Commission’s WA hearings will be some of the most explosive. A recent WA inquiry examined historical abuse at St Andrew’s Hostel in Katanning, St Christopher’s Hostel in Northam, Hardie House in South Hedland and St Michael’s House in Merredin from 1960-2006. It found a number of authority figures failed to act on sex abuse claims after they were told about them. The commission says the WA public hearing will also look at the compensation claim process, and how victims were treated when they lodged applications. Public hearings in other states have revealed victims had to fight for any payouts and many claimed they were not believed. The commission said it will look at claims made through Towards Healing, the body set up by the Catholic Church to deal with allegations of child sex abuse and cruelty, and Redress WA, a scheme set up by the State Government where victims can apply for an ex-gratia payment of $45,000, as well as claims made directly to the Christian Brothers. The hearing will be held at the WA Industrial Relations Commission at 111 St Georges Tce in Perth on April 28. Any person or institution who believes they have a direct and substantial interest in the scope and purpose of the public hearing is invited to lodge a written application for leave to appear at the public hearing via www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au by April 14
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