The following information is taken from “‘A Most Unenviable Reputation’: The Christian Brothers and School Discipline Over Two Centuries” by Barry Coldrey, published by Tamanariak Publishing in Melbourne in 1991. This was, by all appearances, a very limited release document and so I suspect there aren’t many copies about.
Dr. Coldrey, by the way, was one of the main people to expose the historical abuse of British child migrants who came to Australia just after World War II – the type of thing the mini-series, ‘The Leaving of Liverpool’ was based on. He has also done a lot of other work looking at the abuse of children in residential care situations, and abuse within the Catholic Church. Speaking as an historian myself who has met Dr. Coldrey, I think his work has been excellent and honest, without developing into a witch hunt.