“He (Dowlan) was crying on the floor. I was so angry for me and so angry for the other kids. I stormed out of the room,” Mr Tatchell told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“I said ‘come with me you bastard’ and I went into the main area where all the other brothers who were dorm masters slept.

“I kept kicking at the door and eventually a couple of brothers got up to see what the racket was and then I just started swinging at them.”

Mr Tatchell left St Patrick’s College and went to Monivae College where he would attack any brothers abusing other students.

“I was taking my laundry down to the basement and the brother in charge of the laundry ... was in there with another kid.  

“I became so angry I just walked in and grabbed the kid and said ‘get out of here’. I proceeded to belt (the brother). I really could have killed him, I was that angry.”

When he was later compensated by the church for Dowlan’s rape, Mr Tatchell gave it all away to the homeless.

“It ($30,000) was blood money. It was money that people in the Catholic community had put on the collection plate with good intentions. I gave it away to homeless people and people that needed help. In my mind, it had done some good.”

Mr Tatchell said he would continue to fight hard for other victims.

“Every time I see a broken man, I think there is one more fight we have to have, and there are plenty of them and there are plenty of them who are not coming out.”

He also said the Catholic Church, particularly Cardinal Pell, had to take responsibility for its actions.

“The buck has to stop somewhere and, in Australia, it’s George Pell. He may not have the intestinal fortitude or the ability to see his own vanity but it’s ambition that got him there and it will take his humility to get him out of there.

“Time will tell if George can find an ounce of courage. You cannot really atone when you’re in denial. It’s time George Pell stopped looking in the mirror and had a look out the window and, whilst he turns a legal defence into spaghetti, Rome’s still burning.”

Survivor BAQ was molested by Brother Gerald Fitzgerald, in the St Alipius classroom, and Brother Stephen Farrell during an overnight fishing trip.

He was also abused by Fr Ridsdale in his presbytery office and told to “shut up and don’t say anything about it”.

“I cannot accept that Bishop Mulkearns and Father Pell didn’t know,” BAQ said.

“Brother Best would have abused almost every boy who came through his class at St Alipius for years.

“... this was institutionalised, rampant and endemic and something needs to be done.

“I am a 52-year-old male and I can’t point to one male I feel close to.”