Brother Edward Dowlan (aka Ted Bales)

Brother Edward Vernon Dowlan was born in 1950 and was a Christian Brother who changed his name in 2001 to Ted Bales. In 1994, Brother Dowlan was charged with 64 offences of child sexual abuse committed against 23 boys at various schools in Victoria. These schools included the following:

Below is a list of the schools Brother Dowlan taught at:

  • St Alipius Parish School (Ballarat East) in 1971 (where he became a full-time offender);

  • St Thomas More College in Forest Hills (Melbourne) in 1972 (this later become Emmaus College);

  • St Patrick's College (Ballarat) in 1973-74);

  • Warrnambool Christian Brothers College in 1975-76 (later re-named Emmanuel College);

  • St Brendan's in Devonport (Tasmania) in the late 1970s;

  • Chanel College, Geelong in 1980;

  • St Augustine's Boys' Orphanage in Geelong for part of 1981;

  • Parade College Preparatory School, Alphington, Melbourne, for part of 1981;

  • Cathedral College (East Melbourne) in 1982-85;

  • St Mary’s Technical School, Geelong, in 1987-8;

  • St Vincent's Boys' Orphanage, South Melbourne, in 1989; and

  • Geelong Catholic Regional College in 1990-3.

During court proceedings in 1996, it was shown that Brother Dowlan had openly committed child sexual abuse in the presence of other boys at St Alipius and St Thomas More in 1971 to 1972. It is reported that a 1973 report shown in the same proceedings by Victoria Police had described Brother Dowlan as being overtly affectionate with boys and that he was imprudent in his expression of affection when confronted with this remark.

While Brother Dowlan was teaching at St Thomas More School in Melbourne, the school received a complaint of child sexual abuse against him by one of the student’s family. The school acted by moving Brother Dowlan to the position of dormitory master at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat while informing and lying to the students that he had gone on a religious retreat. Consequently, Brother Dowlan continued to abuse students at St Patrick’s College. After leaving St Patrick’s, Brother Dowland was later sent by the Christian Brothers to work at St Augustine’s Boys’ Orphanage in Geelong in 1981 and briefly at St Vincent’s Boys’ Home in South Melbourne in the same year. In 1985, Brother Dowlan was teaching at Cathedral College in East Melbourne when another complaint of child sexual abuse was made against him. The Christian Brothers removed him from his post and he was sent to do a diploma in theology for a year. It was not until 2008 that Brother Dowlan’s services with the Christian Brothers was terminated and he was given a separation payment of $125,000 and assistance with accommodation.

In 1996, Brother Dowlan entered a guilty plea in the Melbourne County Court on 16 counts of indecent assault and the number of charges where thus reduced. He was sentenced to nine years and eight months in jail with a non-parole period of six years. In 2001, Brother Dowlan was released from jail where he proceeded to change his name to Ted Bales to avoid the public eye and the media. On 29 April 2014 he appeared again in the Melbourne Magistrates Court facing another 48 charges of child sexual abuse against 14 boys in the 1970s and 1980s while he was working as a Christian Brother. In 2015, the Victorian Court of Appeal sentenced Brother Bale to a further eight years and five months jail, with a five-year no-parole period. Brother Brian Brandon, who was Executive Officer for the Christian Brothers Professional Standards Office, a member of the Provincial Council for the Christian Brothers for much of from May 1984 to May 1996, and a headmaster at a number of schools, was asked in 2013 by the Victorian Parliament’s Family and Community Development Committee (“BETRAYAL OF TRUST INQUIRY INTO THE HANDLING OF CHILD ABUSE BY RELIGIOUS AND OTHER NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS” Volume 1 of 2) whether he accepted that there was a consistent course of action in moving Brother Dowlan around to different schools without warning parents or children of his prior offending. Brother Brandon’s response was that “Dowlan was moved from community to community because he was struggling in terms of his maturity and this was an opportunity for him to develop and that it was not done because he had offended in one place.” (page 19) Furthermore, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses in Case Study No. 28 - “Catholic Church Authorities in Ballarat” - has shown that the Christian Brother’s top hierarchy knew of Brother Dowlan’s behaviour and his propensity to re-offend.

Moody Law has in the past represented and is still representing clients who were sexually abused by members of the Christian Brothers at various institutions.

We invite former victims, students, teachers, and parents to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.

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