JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE WAS A HIGHLY EDUCATED PRIEST FROM A WEALTHY RHEIMS FAMILY. HE GREW UP IN A CITY WHERE MOST POOR CHILDREN SPENT THEIR DAYS ON THE STREETS AND FREQUENTLY BECAME INVOLVED IN PETTY CRIME. DE LA SALLE RESPONDED TO THE NEEDS OF THESE "STREET KIDS" BY PROVIDING SCHOOLS FOR THEM. IN 1680, HE ESTABLISHED THE FIRST GROUP OF BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS, GIVING THEM A NEW "LASALLIAN SPIRITUALITY", COMMUNITY RULES TO LIVE BY AND A PARTICULAR WAY OF DRESSING. HIS VISION PROSPERED AND BY THE 19TH CENTURY THERE WERE 800 LASALLIAN SCHOOLS IN FRANCE ALONE. IN 1905 DISASTER STRUCK WITH THE EXPULSION OF THE EDUCATIONAL ORDERS FROM FRANCE AND MANY BROTHERS MIGRATED OVERSEAS TO FOUND NEW SCHOOLS IN THE LASALLIAN TRADITION. TODAY THE DE LA SALLE BROTHERS ARE LOCATED IN OVER 80 COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD LIVING OUT THE CHARISM OF THEIR REVERED FOUNDER.

THE FIRST LASALLIAN FOUNDATION IN AUSTRALIA WAS MADE FROM SINGAPORE IN 1864 AT THE REQUEST OF FR GRIVER, THE APOSTOLIC ADMINISTRATOR OF PERTH. FOR TWO YEARS BR BOTTHIAN STRUGGLED TO SUSTAIN THE SCHOOL AND OPEN A LOCAL NOVITIATE BUT IN THE END IT PROVED AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK AND THE BROTHERS WITHDREW. OVER THE NEXT FORTY YEARS MANY REQUESTS FOR BROTHERS TO STAFF BOYS SCHOOLS IN AUSTRALIA CONTINUED TO BE MADE AND FINALLY IN 1905 AN AGREEMENT WAS REACHED WITH CARDINAL MORAN ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FOUNDATION IN AUSTRALIA. CONSEQUENTLY TWELVE DE LA SALLE BROTHERS ARRIVED FROM IRELAND AND FRANCE IN JANUARY 1906 AND IN FEBRUARY 1906 THEY OPENED THEIR FIRST SCHOOL AT ARMIDALE IN COUNTRY NEW SOUTH WALES. FROM ARMIDALE THE WORK EXPANDED THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA AND TO NEW ZEALAND AND PAPUA NEW GUINEA. CURRENTLY THERE ARE LASALLIAN SCHOOLS IN FIVE AUSTRALIAN STATES. THE BROTHERS ARE ALSO INVOLVED IN WELFARE WORK WITH YOUNG BOYS IN THE RUNNING OF BOYSTOWN IN QUEENSLAND.