BoysTown

BoysTown was a child-welfare school and institution located in Beaudesert, Queensland, which ran from 1961 until 2001, operated by the De La Salle Brothers, a Catholic organisation. There were allegations, later proved, of physical and sexual child abuse, reported in 2020 as the largest case at a single institution in Australia's history. Two former BoysTown staff were convicted of child sex offences committed at the institution, and the De La Salle Brothers paid over A$27 million in compensation to 219 victims of abuse. Following the closure of the institution, BoysTown continued to operate as a charity, and rebranded as Yourtown in 2016. History BoysTown was a Lasallian educational institution, operated by the De La Salle Brothers, a Catholic organisation. It was lauded upon opening for its goal of helping and schooling disadvantaged youth. The institution housed both orphans and other wards, and boys who had been referred to them following criminal activity. It was reportedly the only place in Queensland in the 1970s where a ward could complete Year 8, 9 and 10. BoysTown, however, was best known at the time for operating charity gambling, in the form of selling lottery tickets where the winning prize was a house. BoysTown also founded the Kids Helpline in 1991. By 1978 government child welfare officers had raised concerns about severe beatings at the institutions from staff, and allegations of boys being forced to fight each other in boxing matches until the director told them to stop. Staff at BoysTown also regularly gave children tobacco. A report on BoysTown that year criticised the organisation for its "preoccupation with conformity", the general reluctance of staff to address the social and emotional needs of the children, and for considering parental contact to be a privilege that could be denied as a form of punishment. The report went on to say staff had a reluctance to acknowledge any benefit in promoting a child's relationship with their family, and stated BoysTown provided inadequate preparation for discharge and community integration for children. Children who complained about abuse at the time were either ignored or beaten as punishment. The first allegations of sexual abuse were made in 1997, and the Forde Inquiry, initiated the following year, concluded that BoysTown was still openly violating Queensland’s non-binding standards against violent punishment in licensed care facilities.