(Transcript from World News Radio)
The Royal Commission into sexual abuse has been told the Christian Brothers in Western Australia were told not to be familiar with the children in their care.
But it wasn't until the 1960s that members the Catholic order were expressly told not to fondle them.
Ryan Emery reports.
Post-war migrant children were told their new life in Western Australia would be an adventure.
They would be taken to institutions run by the Christian Brothers order and given an education, food, clothing and shelter.
But the majority weren't.
They were set to work constructing buildings at the institutions and were severely beaten by the brothers.
Others became the so-called sexual pets of some of the order.
One man told the Royal Commission he was taken to church by the brother who allegedly raped him the night before.
"At night, he was a monster. A few hours later, he could come, and he would have this enormous crucifix around his neck, and he would wake me up as if nothing ever happened."
The Royal Commission heard from a former leader of the order Brother Antony Shanahan.
He told the commission about the order's policies and practices during the period under review: 1947 to 1968.
Here he is being addressed by the commission's chair Peter McClellan.
"So do we have the picture that the brothers knew of brothers who sexually abused, committed sexual assault, who were transferred, but continued to work with children?
"Yes.
"Do you think that was wise?
"No."
Brother Shanahan, who was not a brother during the period being examined, was also asked about the change in the order's 1947 constitution.
The brothers had been told not to be familiar with the children in their care.
That rule was given more clarification in 1962.
"They must not fondle their pupils. They must never be alone with a pupil. Do you see that?
"Yes.
"That to you isn't firmer and more express or explicit than the previous?
"Well, looking at it now I agree with you it is more forceful."
The commission heard that brothers who knew about "considerable fault capable of scandal" were told to tell their Brother Director privately.
Brother Shanahan said the interpretation of scandal in the 1940s could also refer to "causing difficulty for someone".
"But it wasn't just scandal in the sense that we would use it today. I think it was a bit broader than that."
Brother Shanahan's evidence is expected to continue today.
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