De La Salle Brothers in Australia: The first 100 Years

The following information is derived largely from Peter Donovan's Book For Youth and the Poor The De La Salle Brothers in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea 1906 -2000.

To purchase a copy of the book contact reception@delasalle.org.au
Price: $25 (includes postage & handling)

FOUNDATION
In January 1906, twelve De La Salle Brothers came to Australia from Ireland and France at the request of Sydney’s Archbishop, Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran.

Moran offered the first community of Brothers to Bishop O'Connor, Bishop of Armidale who was seeking Brothers for his schools. Within a month, on February 3 1906, De La Salle College Armidale opened and the re-opening of St Mary’s Primary School for Boys.

In April 1906, after some months of internal tension and disillusionment, the French Brothers left Armidale and Australia, leaving five Irish Brothers in Armidale. Fortunately, for the survival of the Brothers work in Australia, six more Irish Brothers arrived in 1909. They began a school at Surry Hills, in Sydney; working in difficult conditions.

Brother Paul Phelan was appointed the first Provincial of Australia in October 1911 giving the Brothers a much needed sense of cohesion and leadership.

Although the number of Brothers were few, schools were established in Malvern in Melbourne in 1912; Cootamundra, New South Wales in 1913 and Ashfield, Sydney in 1916.

The success of the Brothers in Australia was dependant on the recruitment of young Australian men. In 1914, a novitiate, where boys received training to become Brothers was established in Cootamundra, country New South Wales.

Laurence (Br Benildus) de Moulin, who was a former student of De la Salle College, Armidale became the first Australian to join the Brothers in 1914. Others soon followed, providing hope for the future. A feature of the early recruiting that continued to occur in later years was the recruitment of siblings. John Duffy and his brother Thomas entered the junior noviate together on 20 November 1915. William and John Hayes followed and soon after Louis and John Dwyer.

CONSOLIDATION
After World War One, the De La Salle Brothers presence in Australia developed rapidly, due to the increased recruitment of Brothers from Australia and the continuing influx of Brothers from Ireland.

De La Salle schools opened at Richmond, Victoria (1926); Haberfield (1927), Dubbo(1927), Orange (1928), Bathurst (1929) and Marrickville (1932) in New South Wales; and Roma, in Queensland (1932). In just 25 years, the Brothers had already established 15 schools in Australia.

In 1932, 72 hectares of rural land at Castle Hill, Sydney was purchased for the purpose of building a College to train young Brothers. This property was known as ‘Oakhill’. Farming on the property was important during the Depression of the 1930’s for it supplied food and income for the Brothers.

Br Benignus White, became Provincial in 1933 and oversaw the construction of the De La Salle Training College at Oakhill. The College opened in 1936 – a development of significant size and commitment by the De La Salle Brothers to Australia.

Later in 1936, Oakhill Boarding College was established. It began with just four students.

Two more schools were established in the late 1930s; at Cronulla in Sydney (1936) and Mentone in Melbourne (1938).

During World War II, St Bernard’s College, Katoomba (1942) opened and cadet corps were established in some De La Salle schools.

The Brothers expanded their work beyond schools in 1942, providing vocational training to boys at Boys’ Town in Engadine, Sydney, for the next ten years.

EXPANSION
Following the end of World War II, Br Jerome Foley became Provincial presiding over an era of growth for the Brothers that reflected the boom in Australia generally.

In this period, several new De La Salle schools and communities were established in New South Wales:- at Coogee (1946); Bankstown (1951); Lithgow (1953); Lakemba (1954); Kingsgrove(1956) and Caringbah (1958). Schools were also established in other States:- Henley Beach in South Australia (1954); Midland Junction, Western Australia (1954) and Scarborough, Queensland (1955).

The expansion of schools placed enormous pressure on the Brothers to staff them, and the workload was rigorous and often harsh. These were men who met the challenges of the period with a commitment to their students’ total welfare.

During this period, the Brothers extended their mission beyond Australian shores, establishing schools in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

In 1946, a school was established in Bomana and was shortly transferred to Yule Island in Papua New Guinea.

In the 1950s, schools were established in Bleinheim, Mangere East and New Plymouth in New Zealand. The pioneer Brothers demonstrated a generous and hard working spirit.

NEW DIRECTIONS
In 1958, the first Australian born Provincial; Brother Baptist Will was appointed. His period of leadership was characterised by social and religious change in Australia, which provided new challenges for the Brothers.

Changes to education in the 1960s had staffing and government funding implications for the Brothers and resulted in great changes for schools. Many schools amalgamated, and for some, co-education was introduced.

The demand for new schools persisted. Lay teachers became increasingly important for the Brothers to assist in staffing their schools. New schools were opened in Revesby, Sydney in 1960, Inverell, New South Wales in 1963 and East Bentleigh, Melbourne in 1970.

Benilde High School commenced in 1966, initially at Marrickville before moving to Bankstown (1968). The schools aim was to prepare students for University.

In 1961, the Brothers welcomed the opportunity to broaden their work by establishing BoysTown in Beaudesert ,Queensland to provide care to boys who were in conflict with the law. Brother Alban Dwyer, as Director worked tirelessly with Brothers and lay workers to provide vocational training services.

Subsequent Directors helped his initiatives grow and expand to assist marginalized young people and their families.

The Brothers numbers peaked at 285 in 1967, but during the next decade there started a decline in numbers, reflecting a situation that was common in many religious congregations. With lay teachers increasingly required in Catholic schools, the Brothers adopted a broader role in Catholic education in the field of Teacher Training.

The Brothers encouraged a commitment to the development of the Catholic College of Education at Oakhill in the former Training College. By the 1970s the Training College was utilized by the Brothers to provide teacher training not only to Brothers but to lay teachers By 1982, the Training College had amalgamated with other Teacher Training Colleges to form the Catholic College of Education Sydney. Br Ambrose Payne was appointed Principal. The main campus was located at Oakhill, Castle Hill.

By January 1991, assisted by the direction of Br Ambrose Payne, the Catholic College of Education Sydney amalgamated with three other Catholic tertiary institutions in Eastern Australia to form the Australian Catholic University.

Despite declining numbers, the Brothers continued to seek new means of fulfilling their mission to care for the poor and marginalized. In 1979 Br Finbar Kelly, assisted by lay co-workers and supporters established the San Miguel Centre in Richmond, New South Wales, to provide short term accommodation for families in crisis and training for unemployed people.

In the 1980’s, the Brothers expanded their mission in schools serving remote Aboriginal communities, at Balgo Hills north west of Alice Springs and Derby, Western Australia.

RENEWAL
By the late 1980s despite the declining numbers of Brothers and their necessity to withdraw from many schools, there was a renewed sense of optimism as the concept of Association and Lay Partnership grew.

In 1990, a centre for Lasallian education for Brothers and Lay co- workers was established under the leadership of Br Bill Firman, at Narooma on the New South Wales South Coast

The initiative to include lay partnership in the work of the Brothers led to the establishment of the Lasallian National Secretariat in January 1996, with Mary Conlan as Director. The role of the Secretariat was to promote shared mission between Brothers and lay staff.

This led to the development of Lasallian Education Services, which provides education courses for staff and volunteers to deepen their understanding of Lasallian values and tradition and to continue this ethos in schools and welfare work.

Welfare services, such as BoysTown continued to develop outreach programs, helpedlargely by funds raised through BoysTown Lotteries and Art Unions. In 1991, Br Paul Smith established Kids Help Line, a national 24 hour telephone counselling service for children.

In the 1990s, the Brothers sought new opportunities to work with young people, developing Youth Ministry programs in schools and beyond. La Salle Youth Camps and Volunteer programs, promote Lasallian ideals and provide opportunities for faith development and community service.

The work of the Brothers and Lay Partners remained dynamic in a range of activities to meet the needs of the poor and disadvantaged not only in Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, but in the South East Asian region.

As recently as 2005, the Lasallian Foundation was established to fund developmental and emergency relief projects in the Asia Pacific Region.

PRESENT
Today, what began in Armidale in 1906 is reflected in the presence of the Brothers in 20 different locations across three countries. Involved are more than 800 co-workers in touch with more than 10,000 young people, many in schools and some in welfare programs.

The future looks promising. The current Provincial Brother Ambrose Payne says, “The second hundred years will be a time in which partnerships and associations are the striking characteristic of everything in which the Brothers are involved”.

The essential needs for which St John Baptist De La Salle founded his Order remain. The care of the young, especially the poor and marginalized is still the priority.

‘Being Lasallian’, calls us to continue this work….