Hutton Gibson - Railroad Lawsuit and Move To Australia

Railroad Lawsuit and Move To Australia

In the 1960s Gibson worked for New York Central Railroad. In the early morning hours of December 11, 1964 he slipped off a steel platform covered in oil and snow and injured his back. A work injury lawsuit followed and it finally went to court on February 7, 1968. Seven days later, Gibson was awarded $145,000 by the jury. Gibson paid his debts and attorney's fees and that year relocated his family, first to Ireland, then to Australia. Hutton Gibson said in 2003 that the move to his mother's native country was undertaken because he believed the Australian military would reject his oldest son for the Australian Vietnam War draft, unlike the American military. Because of his back injuries, Gibson sought retraining in a new career. He was encouraged to become a computer programmer after IQ testing placed him in the genius range.

After the promulgation of the reformed liturgy of Paul VI, the Gibson family home in Sydney, Australia, was used as a temporary chapel where the Tridentine Mass was offered. Gibson also reportedly used the house to store statues and altar relics which had been discarded by parishes. Gibson was ousted as secretary of the Latin Mass Society of Australia after becoming increasingly vocal about the See of Peter actually being vacant due to John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council, and subsequent popes being heretics.