[1] 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.
BoysTown was a Lasallian educational institution, founded by St. Mary’s parish priest Monsignor Owen Steele,[2] and operated by the De La Salle Brothers, a Catholic organisation.
[4] 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.
[1] 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.
[6] 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.
However, former director of BoysTown Brother Paul Smith accused former resident Terry McDaniel on the program of having false memories for stating he was strip searched, saying no such behaviour had ever occurred at the institution.
[8] Days before the program aired, Ambrose Payne, the leader of the De La Salle order in Australia, circulated an email to staff describing the allegations as "lacking foundation".
Former rugby league footballer Joe Kilroy spent three years at BoysTown, where he was subjected to physical abuse; in 2013 he was still undergoing counselling to deal with trauma he experienced there.
[11] By 2017, the trustees for the De La Salle Brothers had paid almost $27 million in compensation for 219 credible claims of abuse, representing the highest figure against a single church-run institution in Australia.