Cult leader dies, but her victims’ fight continues
Survivors who were drugged, abused and bashed as children in the notorious Australian cult The Family are preparing for a legal fight for compensation after the death of its leader, Anne Hamilton-Byrne.
Hamilton-Byrne, who considered herself the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, died in a suburban Melbourne nursing home on Thursday, aged 97. She had been in palliative care after suffering dementia since 2007.
Her condition had rendered her unable to face further court action by survivors in the last years of her life. A class action lawsuit by survivors was listed to proceed to trial in the Supreme Court last August.
Hamilton-Byrne’s net worth was estimated at one point to be about A$10 million (NZ$10.6m).
Hamilton-Byrne founded The Family in the 1960s with Melbourne University academic Raynor Johnson. The apocalyptic cult blended yoga, drug-taking and Eastern mysticism with Christianity.
Along with her husband, Bill Byrne, Hamilton-Byrne acquired children through adoption scams and imprisoned them at a house beside Lake Eildon. They were home-schooled, wore identical clothes, and had their hair dyed blond.
They were also dosed with LSD after being ‘‘initiated’’ at age 14. Starvation, beatings and brainwashing were common. At one point, there were as many as 28 of these children.
At one point, the cult had hundreds of adult members, many of them respected middle-class professionals.
One survivor, Leeanne Creese, launched a legal battle for compensation against HamiltonByrne in 2017, but it has taken two years to proceed to trial.
Children also had their heads held under water, were administered large quantities of tranquillisers, and were not given medical treatment for serious illnesses including dysentery, court documents state.
Before her death, lawyers for Hamilton-Byrne filed a defence denying all the allegations against her. She did admit to having a group of children under her care known as The Family.
The class action, which survivors must opt out of not to take part, covers the cult’s activities between 1968 and 1987. It is understood that up to seven survivors could be involved.
Hamilton-Byrne owned property in Australia, including homes in the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne, as well as overseas.
Former Victoria Police detective Lex de Man
It is understood her estate has dwindled, in part because of the cost of her palliative care.
One member of the legal action, Ben Shenton, was taken in by the cult at just 18 months old and bore the abuse of HamiltonByrne and ‘‘aunties’’ until he was rescued with the other children at age 15 after a police raid.
Yesterday, his feeling was relief. ‘‘The influence that Anne had over people, and the damage that was done . . . it’s good to see a chapter being closed,’’ he said.
‘‘There will be a lot of fallout from this.’’
Hamilton-Byrne was never charged with anything more serious than fraud, which led to A$5000 in fines. Victoria’s police and prosecutors did not pursue potential charges of kidnapping, administering drugs and assault.
Former Victoria Police detective Lex de Man, who investigated the cult and its leader, said he still had regrets that Hamilton-Byrne never faced justice on several allegations due to legal technicalities.
‘‘I shed not one tear today,’’ he said. ‘‘Today for me brings to an end the life of one of Victoria’s most evil people.
‘‘My hope is that those who suffered, the survivors who are the former children, if there’s any way they can receive compensation for what they went through, that should happen.’’
Hamilton-Byrne fled Australia with her husband after the Lake Eildon house was raided by police. They had property in Kent, England, and the Catskills region of New York state. They were eventually found there after a joint Victoria Police-FBI operation, and extradited.
‘‘She was one of the world’s most notorious cult leaders, and one of the few women,’’ said journalist Chris Johnston, coauthor of The Family, a book investigating the cult. ‘‘She orchestrated one of the darkest eras in Melbourne’s history.’’
‘‘I shed not one tear today . . . [she was] one of Victoria’s most evil people.’’