The Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God

The Order of the Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God came to Australia from Ireland in 1947. Its first work was a residential school in New South Wales for boys with learning difficulties called Kendall Grange at Morriset Park, in the Hunter region (1948-2000). The Order also ran children’s homes and family services in Victoria and Queensland, as well as in New Zealand, but withdrew from providing children’s services around 2005. The Oceania Province of the chapter is chapter is based in Burwood, New South Wales.

Members of the Order of the Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God have been implicated in a number of legal cases involving assaults on children in their institutions across Australia and New Zealand. In 2017, a report from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse stated that, “for religious institutes with non-ordained religious members, taking into account duration of ministry … the St John of God Brothers had the highest overall proportion of members who were alleged perpetrators (40.4%)” (p.16). Despite the high number of disclosures of abuse at St John of God institutions, the Royal Commission did not hold a case study into the Order, as public hearings might have prejudiced criminal investigations and prosecutions underway at the time (Final Report, Volume 16, p.296).

On 9 November 2012 the New South Wales Premier announced a special commission of inquiry into allegations of a cover-up of child sex abuse by priests in the Hunter region. On 10 November 2012 The Sydney Morning Herald stated that St John of God Brothers who had been named in a Victorian inquiry into child sexual abuse had also worked in New South Wales, and been involved in the abuse of disabled boys at Kendall Grange. St John of God Brothers in New Zealand were also convicted of serious sexual assaults and institutions run by the Order were investigated in that country’s royal commission of inquiry into abuse in care (2018-2024).

In 2004, the Sisters of St John of God, who ran a number of institutions in Western Australia, created St John of God Australia Ltd as “a civil and canon law entity established in 2004 to sponsor the ministry previously sponsored by the Sisters of St John of God”. In 2007, the St John of God [Brothers] Oceania Province merged its “psychiatric hospitals, other facilities and many services” with St John of God Australia Ltd. St John of God Australia Ltd operates St John of God Health Care, one of the largest providers of Catholic health care in Australia in 2026.

The Oceania Province of St John of God continues to exist in 2026, although its website is not operational. Requests for records are handled by its Professional Standards Office.