By Eric Martin
According to the ‘Old Boys’ (the Aquinas College Alumni) Br Clery is an institution, a brother who has become an icon of a complex set of values that represent aspiration, education, and the increasingly complex role that the Church has played in the formation of young Australian men.
“In an earlier phase of our nation’s history, when discrimination against Catholics was a very real phenomenon, many tens of thousands of men and women answered the “call,” reminisced Br Brian Clery, the 179th and possibly last in line of Edmund Rice’s Christian Brothers at Aquinas College.
“They established an educational system that did lift my generation and more so the generations of my parents and grandparents so that we were given a decent chance competing for the jobs, wealth and higher education that today we largely take for granted in Australian culture.”
The original founding purpose of the schools was a reaction to perceived injustices and the poor social standing of Catholics at the time; in a largely Protestant country the necessity of providing authentic Catholic teaching at a genuine Catholic school was little recognised, and it fell to the priests and parents to ensure that the congregation’s children were raised in accordance with Church teaching.
Despite the recent scandals that have engulfed the order, the Christian Brothers are also responsible for establishing and running some of the best performing, highest achieving schools in Australia, with institutions in Perth such as Aquinas College, Trinity College and Christian Brothers College Fremantle as well as other respected bastions within the state.
At 83 years, Br Clery suspects that he could be the last of his line at Aquinas College and feels that it is his responsibility to safeguard and share the history of the Christian Brothers’ order in Australia, especially the story of outstanding CB’s educated Australians, such as Lieutenant Alaric Pinder Boor, who was killed during World War I (WWI) in 1917, after playing a crucial role in the Battle of Beersheba.
The former Boarding Master for Pinder Boor Boarding House is set to have his personal part of the story immortalized, accompanied by a West Australian film crew (Barefoot Media) as he traced the history of Lieutenant Boor, a former Christian Brothers College (CBC) Dux (1912), Rhodes Scholar and Head Prefect, the son of a draper from Carnarvon.
Lieutenant Boor fought during WWI in the 7th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and was attached to the No. 113 Squadron Royal Flying Corps. On 31 October, 1917, his last day on earth, Lt Boor led a reconnaissance mission flying an RE8 aircraft over German and Turkish troops in Beersheba, Israel, to gauge the strength and position of the enemy.
He took off at 0830, before the launch of a critical offensive, but crashed on his return due to engine failure. Lt Boor never knew that the charge of the Australian Light Horse troops went on to fight later that day was one of the ‘last great cavalry charges in military history’. It was planned and led by the famous Australian General Sir Harry Chauvel and was a complete success.
The Last Brother follows Br Clery and his research on Lieutenant Boor, which took him from the halls of CBC Perth in 1912, to the desert of Israel: both in war-torn 1917 and once again in modern times, as Br Clery followed the path taken by the Lieutenant and his troops.
Fellow Aquinas Old Boy Simon Holland, who as Director is producing The Last Brother, spoke to The Record about the upcoming film, highlighting his respect for the Christian Brother and how challenging certain aspects of the documentary were to produce.
“The reason I’m making the film is to get the stories of Lieutenant Alaric Pinder Boor and Br Clery on record,” Mr Holland said.
“The qualities of both gentlemen are of the highest fabric of Australian culture. I think Br Clery gives a good sense of that with his presence and the way in which he has lived his life.
“The way I always saw him and other older men of that generation, they’re real thinkers and great story tellers – Br Clery’s a deep thinker, an academic at heart and as Christian Brothers they’ve really given up so much to focus on the job at hand,” Mr Holland said.
“We were at an Old Aquinians’ Association dinner and Br Clery was the keynote speaker.”
“When he mentioned he was going on a pilgrimage to follow the story of Pinder Boor, it was music to my filmmaker ears.”
“The film was enabled thanks to the charitable donation by the Old Aquinians’ Association, in particular President Matthew Noonan-Crowe, who really championed the cause. The fact that we have the footage in the can is really thanks to them. Without that slice of funding we’d have missed that opportunity,” he explained.
“Br Clery went to Israel for three months: he left in September and I just thought, as a film maker, I just have to get him recorded: his thoughts on the world and this chapter in history. I just knew if I could capture him at the grave site, that was it, I’d have it and he’d be immortalised.”
“We’re still figuring out a lot, a film is very dynamic and it’s actually quite a complex story to tell,” Mr Holland said.
“Cobbling together all the history, with the contemporary message, is an exciting challenge.”
“Though we’re currently settled on The Last Brother as a title for the film, this could change.”
Br Clery’s quest to the Holy Land, during a sabbatical, in search of Lieutenant Boor’s grave was also sponsored by an anonymous Old Boy.