Historical Child Sexual Abuse

The first allegations at St Mary’s Agricultural School emerged in the late 1920s, with the Christian Brothers’ Provincial Council becoming aware of abuse issues as early as 1919. Critical management failures were particularly evident from 1947 to 1968.

The case of Brother Edward Mamo, a former Catholic religious Brother, brings to the forefront the serious issue of abuse within the institutional settings of Monivae College in Hamilton, Victoria and Chevalier College in Bowral in NSW

The Catholic Diocese of Wollongong has been marred by serious allegations of historical institutional child sexual abuse involving key figures such as John Gerard Nestor, Father Peter Lewis Comensoli, and Brother Michael Evans.

Rabbi David Kramer and David Cyprys both pleaded guilty to multiple charges of institutional child abuse against young boys at Yeshiva College in St Kilda, Victoria.

Brian Spillane faced numerous charges related to sexual offences against children. He was convicted for sexually abusing seven students between 1974 and 1990 at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst.

Father David Rapson is a former Catholic priest who was convicted of multiple sexual offences against children. He was associated with the Salesians of Don Bosco, a religious order that operates schools in Australia. Rapson’s crimes took place at several Catholic schools in Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales.

The historical abuse at St Patrick’s College in Goulburn was notorious throughout the 1970s and 1980s, where several members of the Christian Brothers, the order managing the school, were implicated in disturbing cases of child sexual abuse, most notably Brother William John Obbens and Brother David Standen.

From its establishment in 1956 to its closure in 1993, Winlaton Youth Training Centre became a site of profound suffering for many young girls and women who were subjected to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse within its walls

The judicial system ultimately held Brother Bernard McGrath accountable, convicting him of 64 offences and sentencing him to 33 years in prison for crimes that spanned multiple locations, impacting dozens of children under his care.