This is a story of an Australian boy who spent nearly ten years as an inmate of Christian Brothers orphanages in Western
Australia in the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1935, Edward “Skinny” Davies, the illegitimate son of a 17-year-old Australian girl, was sent to the Christian Brothers’ home for
boys at Castledare in Western Australia.
The book is a compelling and often horrifying true story of Skinny’s ten years as an inmate at three Christian Brothers’ institutions: Castledare, Clontarf, and the now infamous Blindoon Boys’ Town recently fictionalized in the ABC series in Australia, “The Leaving of Liverpool”.
The fear of God instilled in Skinny by the Brothers was soon surpassed by the horror of his day-to-day existence in these “homes”. It was a life of hard labour, appalling living
conditions and physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.
In general, “boys were ignorant of sex”, but as the author, Kate Davies, argues, “any boy who did show any sign of interest or arousal was severely punished”.
Boys at the Christian Brothers institutions in Western Australia generally lived in Spartan, Dickensian conditions: overcrowded, wretched dormitory accommodation, cramped dining room facilities and inadequate food – often left-over scraps from the Brothers’ dining room made into watery soup or stew. Clothing was often second-hand and always less than adequate for the harsh conditions. Recreation was rare, as the days of labour were long and tiring – even on Sundays there was work still to be done.
As a general rule, obedience was rigidly enforced on the boys at all times by the Brothers. However, the Brothers themselves lived and dined well, and in some cases disobeyed God’s laws by breaking some or all of the Ten Commandments.
When Innocence Trembles is one boy’s story, but it will ring true for thousands. How and why it could happen in our “lucky country” are questions all Australians will ask on reading this book.