Marist ‘La Valla’ Juniorate, Bowral

Statistics provided by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual abuse have shown that since 1972, the Marist Brothers have operated 21 schools in their own right in Australia, including 12 boarding schools, and have administered a further 74 schools on behalf of parishes or dioceses at which Brothers have been placed. Since 1984 the Marist Brothers have taught approximately 200,000 children in Australia.

However, the Royal Commission also showed that between 1950 to 2010, more than 20 per cent of Marist Brothers had allegations of child sexual abuse against them. This included Marist Brother "Denis" Martin. The Royal Commission in 2014 was informed that Brother "Denis" Martin (Raymond Martin, born 2 February 1930) regularly sexually assaulted boys who resided at the Marists Brothers "La Valla" Juniorate in Bowral, NSW between 1956 to 1958. Between 1951 to 1959, the Juniorate recruited boys for the purpose of them becoming Marist Brothers. The circumstances and the behaviour of many of the Marist Brothers at the Juniorate might in itself led or influenced many of these boarders/recruits to become child-abusers themselves.

We invite former students/boarders of the La Valla Juniorate, teachers and parents to contact us to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.

Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.