INSIDE THE FAMILY An Australian cult
The shocking true crimes of the Australian cult
The first thing that strikes you about the children is their cropped bleachedblond hair. They really do look like brothers and sisters. The truth is, they are helpless members of an infamous Australian doomsday cult known as The Family. These children, some of whom were stolen at birth, were fed drugs and beaten by members of the cult, led by the delusional and manipulative Anne Hamilton-byrne, who claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
Hamilton-byrne’s twisted vision of a “master race” which would survive an impending apocalypse allegedly came to the cult leader during an LSD trip. Detective Lex De Man, who spent five years investigating the sect’s crimes, doesn’t hold back in his assessment of the leader. “I’ve investigated a lot of crimes in my time, and she is the evillest person I’ve ever come across,” De Man tells WHO. “What she did, and the lives she’s ruined, is appalling.”
The cult’s hideous crimes are explored in the three-part ABC documentary The Cult of The Family ( Tue., Mar. 12, 8.30pm, ABC). Hamilton-byrne, a yoga teacher, formed the cult in 1963 with renowned English physicist and scholar Dr Raynor Johnson along with her husband, Bill Hamilton-byrne. Together, they collected 28 children through adoption scams and brainwashing single mothers into giving up their babies, and they raised them as their own.
How did Anne Hamilton-byrne get away with this? “She was a charismatic person,” De Man says. “She established this cult with Dr Raynor Johnson, who had credibility in the community, and he knew people in positions of power. In those days, we never questioned authority.”
The children lived together on the property Kai Lama at picturesque Lake Eildon, about 240km north-east of Melbourne. Hidden away from the rest of the world, they were controlled by a group of “aunties” under Hamilton-byrne’s supervision. The horror stories of what the children endured include being routinely beaten by the aunties. Survivors talk of having their heads dunked in buckets of water and held down.
They would also be deprived food for up to three days. In their weakened state there was no way they could rebel. And then there were
reports of the children being plied with drugs such as Mogadon and Valium and the powerful hallucinogenic drug LSD. “We were given all kinds of other drugs. Drugs to control and calm us down,” survivor Anouree Treena-byrne told News Corp in 2017.
In 1987, sect children Sarah Moore and Leanne Creese fled the house, raising the alarm with police. And in August of that year, police raided the property and rescued the children, who began to detail the abuse they’d suffered. In December 1987, De Man was investigating a school fire in the area of the Lake Eildon property when he became aware of the cult.
Although he was advised not to, De Man began digging into the sect and, in 1989, he spearheaded a task force that was committed to uncovering the cult’s crimes, Operation Forest. “Anyone would have been shocked by allegations the children were being administered LSD,” De Man says. “I couldn’t believe nothing had been done about it.”
His five-year mission to bring both Anne and husband Bill Hamilton-byrne to justice culminated with the detective tracking down the pair to the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. De Man worked with the FBI to have them extradited – but even then, the cult leaders fought them every step of the way. Anne claimed she couldn’t make the journey back to Australia due to ill health.
One of the most frustrating aspects of this case is that despite their alleged crimes, Anne and husband Bill have only faced minor fraud charges, each receiving just a $5000 fine. Many of the children have suffered long-term psychological issues as a result of the abuse they suffered in the sect. Sarah Moore, who was instrumental in lifting the lid on the cult, passed away in 2016.
While Bill died in 2001, Anne, now 98, remains in a nursing home and is suffering dementia. “It’s ironic that she still breathes while others are no longer with us,” De Man, who remains close to the survivors, says. “I have not one bit of sympathy for Anne. The best day of my life will be when she dies.”
“She is the evillest person” – De Man