The Family: The Shocking True Story of a Notorious Cult Paperback – 13 February 2017
by Chris Johnston (Author), Rosie Jones (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars 158 ratings
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A powerful work of investigative journalism that reveals the legacy of a notorious cult.
The apocalyptic group The Family and their guru, Anne Hamilton-Byrne, captured international headlines throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Hamilton-Byrne, who some followers believed was Jesus Christ, was glamorous and charismatic -- and, many allege, very dangerous. She acquired children - some through adoption and some born to cult members - and raised them as her own, bleaching their hair blonde to make them look like siblings. The group, which grew out of Anne's yoga classes in the heady days of the countercultural movement, became surrounded by rumours of LSD use, child abuse, and strange spiritual rituals.
In 1987, police swooped on The Family's lakeside compound and rescued children who claimed they were part of Anne's future master race. The children recounted terrible stories of near starvation, emotional manipulation, and physical abuse. But Anne could not be found, sparking an international police hunt that involved Interpol and the FBI. Could they bring Anne to justice?
Today, the elderly Anne lives in a nursing home with dementia. She has only one criminal conviction to her name, but her estate is estimated to be worth millions. Her few remaining followers attend her bedside.
How did such a notorious group come to flourish in suburban Melbourne? How did Anne, one of few female cult leaders, maintain a hold over her followers? Drawing on police files, diary entries, recordings of Anne, and original interviews with survivors and investigators, The Family goes inside one of the most bizarre cults in modern history to expose its strange and shocking story.
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"Harrowing but humane. An extraordinary story, impeccably researched."
--Martin McKenzie-Murray
"Immaculately researched...This important book looks at how (and asks why) these abuses happened, defying the cult's motto: "unseen, unheard, unknown"."
--Readings
"It's a remarkable [story]: hair-raising, unfathomable and deeply disturbing."
--Irish Independent
"A powerful work of investigative journalism...pieced together in exacting detail"
--Reading Matters
"[A] compelling account of one of Australia's most notorious cults...The authors trace the extraordinary life of a woman who operated "at the edges of human belief"."
--The Saturday Age
"Everyone loves a good cult story. And they don't come much better. This is the gripping story behind one of the strangest, most fascinating episodes in Australian history."
--GQ
Book Description
A powerful work of investigative journalism that reveals the legacy of a notorious cult.
Publisher : Scribe Publications (13 February 2017)
Language : English
Paperback : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 1925321673
ISBN-13 : 978-1925321678
Dimensions : 15.24 x 2.54 x 24.13 cmBest Sellers Rank: 137,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)168 in Religious Cults
704 in Criminology (Books)
3,894 in True Crime AccountsCustomer Reviews:
3.7 out of 5 stars 158 ratings
Tracesprite
5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent professionals hoodwinked by a strange charlatan.Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 19 March 2017
In the 1980s and 1990s wealthy Australian professionals were drawn into a cult called the Family, run by beautiful but not professional or overly intelligent, Anne Hamilton-Byrne. Liberal quantities of LSD increased the compliant intoxication that those professionals felt towards Hamilton-Byrne. Children were acquired by the Family and treated cruelly while Hamilton-Byrne accrued a fortune which has since then not been accessed to compensate her child victims. Lives were ruined. Chris Johnston and Rosie Jones have written a book, ‘The Family’ which I could scarcely put down as I rummaged through the extraordinary account of these multiple tragedies.
A hostile, rival cult centering in America but overflowing into Australia was the Church of Scientology. As with the Family, the Scientologists had leaders whose mental health was in doubt but who drew the unquestioning loyalty of rich people, the most famous of whom is Tom Cruise who has paid for his membership by losing two wives. Journalist Steve Cannane’s book ‘Fair Game’ provides the astonishing story of this cult.
It was Jesus who said that the path to perdition is easily found and these prominent people have found their way to personal tragedy all too readily. It seems that there is something so very unsatisfying about the lives of some of the very rich that they are easy pickings for gurus even when they lack all credibility.
My own theory is that we humans have a tendency to follow leaders who are slightly mentally ill. In earlier times in history, this may have had some value for our survival. A reckless, egotistical leader may have been more inclined to rush into battle. Perhaps their foolishness looked like great courage and inspired others enough to win battles, thus creating a situation where those who followed mentally ill leaders had a survival advantage.
We can certainly think of political leaders past and present whose behavior suggests mental illness and who were/are followed with the kind of adoration that people felt towards Anne Hamilton-Byrne and feel towards the leaders of the Scientologists. Such adoration would increase the confidence of those leaders, thus increasing the aura of attraction for their followers.
Erich Fromm wrote a book called ‘The Fear of Freedom.’ In it he suggests that, though we say we love freedom, many people can find burdensome the choices and responsibilities that freedom opens up and they long to hand over the management of their lives to others. In fact the more dictatorial those others are, the more attractive they seem to those who feel overwhelmed by life. This could be why people are drawn into the elaborate, overly structured world of Scientology, where people struggle through unnecessary artificial tests which give a false sense of meaning and challenge, and a sense of reward to those who survive the bullying that is integral to the experience.
Steven Hassan has written a book, ‘Combatting Cult Mind Control.’ I wonder if that can provide some answers.
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1.0 out of 5 stars DisappointingReviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 6 January 2018
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I was eager to read this book as I remember a lot of the publicity when the cult was exposed. However I was very disappointed. The book is poorly written and so disjointed that it was difficult to follow. The writing was all over the place and didn't do justice to the subject. I can't believe an editor would allow such poor writing.
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S Riaz
3.0 out of 5 stars The FamilyReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 9 December 2016
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I came across the cult of The Family and of Anne Hamilton-Byrne – one of the few female cult leaders – through watching a television documentary. Interested to know more, I found this book which was written by a journalist and a documentary maker. I read it was probably the most comprehensive book about this cult and, after reading it, I can only feel that this is a book which is still to be written. Although this is an interesting account of events, there are a lot of gaps and not really enough depth.
To begin with, we read of Anne Hamilton-Byrne; born Evelyn Grace Victoria Edwards in Australia in 1921. Anne’s mother, Florence, was born in Wandsworth and spent twenty seven years in mental hospitals. The eldest of seven children, her father was largely absent and this was, obviously, very relevant to later events in her life. For example, she was a fantasist and made up stories about her parents and, later, many of the children she forcibly adopted had mothers who also had treatment for mental health issues. Although I would have expected Anne’s early life to be simply told in a documentary; here I would have liked far more information about her early life. We know that she had one daughter who, understandably, does not wish to discuss her mother – but there is really very little information about her childhood, her siblings or anyone who knew her.
We really get to know Anne in the 1950’s when she is teaching yoga and is targeting middle aged, mainly wealthy women, and begins to make some influential contacts. She was considered by her followers to be a reincarnation of Jesus and was glamorous and charismatic, whose third husband became a co-conspirator in her cult. Gradually, the cult began to target children. Anne and her followers helped organise adoptions and the children were told that they were siblings and, bizarrely, had their hair dyed blonde (or most did). As the children got older, it seems that Anne and the ‘aunties’ that were largely in charge of them began to lose control. Previously, they had wielded iron discipline – with strict time-tables, physical punishment and the withholding of food as forms of control.
The book then goes on to the police involvement in the cult, the allegations of the children and the attempts to bring justice to the victims. However, the book lacks a coherence and is emotive, rather than presenting any real facts or evidence. Obviously, it is difficult to get to the bottom of the allegations and the police, and legal case, against the cult were badly handled. Still, I really felt at the end of this book that I still really had very little knowledge about why Anne Hamilton-Byrne felt the need to control so many people, in particular children, and yet was rarely actually there. I did feel that much of the reasons behind her behaviour lay in her childhood and yet this was not properly explored. Overall, an interesting, but frustrating, read.
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A. Non
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but Incomplete AccountReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 26 January 2017
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*minor spoilers*
I first heard of Anne Hamilton-Byrne (one of the few female cult leaders and one of the only - so far as I can see - female cult founders) and "The Family" several years ago. I found the information available at the time fascinating...Fascinating, but incomplete.
This book, written by a journalist and a filmmaker is considerably more thorough, taking information from her current followers (long, rambling speeches that testify - even while they deny it - the deeply confusing and traumatic effect Hamilton-Byrne has had on human minds), police officers and journalists who hunted her for decades, and the children she stole and raised (dyeing their hair blonde, calling them "Hamilton-Byrne" and drugging them with anti-psychotics and LSD).
It's more thorough. But it's not complete. Much of Anne Hamilton-Byrne's childhood (spent mostly in orphanages, abandoned by her mentally-ill mother and ne'er-do-well father) is unknown. While we can applaud their journalistic integrity that Johnston and Jones aren't tempted to infer what may have happened in those lost years, not knowing what happened to form Anne Hamilton-Byrne's character (the need for control, the lust for Jaguar cars, the preoccupation with eternal youth, the determination to be worshipped as special by Australia's VIPs) is frustrating.
Where "The Family" is most thorough is on the treatment of the children, the unfortunates taken from their parents (their mothers drugged and forced to sign their baby over having never seen them, or cult members who "gifted" their child willingly to their leader) and ensconced at Lake Eildon. Denied food as punishment, the children were so hungry they raided the bins of neighbouring properties. Drugged daily with drugs such as Valium to keep them docile, at the age of 14, they had to undergo an LSD trip that lasted several days. Anne Hamilton-Byrne (distant for most of their childhood, allowing them to be raised by "Aunties") was always there for their LSD initiation, ready to drip-feed ideas into their suggestible heads: like they were a reincarnated Martian, or there was a snake coming out of their eye.
This is a fascinating story of how some of the most respectable, educated professionals in Australia (including doctors, nurses, and lawyers) were convinced to do the unthinkable by a woman who taught (among her "kitbag of delusions and known theosophical tropes") that she was the female reincarnation of Christ.
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Mr. Damian Burrell
5.0 out of 5 stars Cult BehaviourReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 11 October 2018
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This e book on The Family cult is probing and telling on cult patterns of behaviour and sect belief systems people put in place for members within a cult such as The Great White Brotherhood.
I thought the information brought to light in this e book revealed the dark side of the cult and the people who suffered from those who were in charge of the cult.
As a Christian Soldier we are taught to love our neighbours as Jesus and his Heavenly Father loves us. Jesus also suffered greatly at the Cross because he claimed to be the Son of God therefore making himself equal to God.
We can learn lessons from The Bible on how to treat others from the golden rule : treat others as you want them to treat you.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 18 July 2017
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good read .
One person found this helpfulReport abuse
Avid reader
2.0 out of 5 stars Two StarsReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 26 June 2018
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Slow
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isplaying 1 - 10 of 41 reviews
Susan
2,593 reviews599 followers
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December 9, 2016
I came across the cult of The Family and of Anne Hamilton-Byrne – one of the few female cult leaders – through watching a television documentary. Interested to know more, I found this book which was written by a journalist and a documentary maker. I read it was probably the most comprehensive book about this cult and, after reading it, I can only feel that this is a book which is still to be written. Although this is an interesting account of events, there are a lot of gaps and not really enough depth.
To begin with, we read of Anne Hamilton-Byrne; born Evelyn Grace Victoria Edwards in Australia in 1921. Anne’s mother, Florence, was born in Wandsworth and spent twenty seven years in mental hospitals. The eldest of seven children, her father was largely absent and this was, obviously, very relevant to later events in her life. For example, she was a fantasist and made up stories about her parents and, later, many of the children she forcibly adopted had mothers who also had treatment for mental health issues. Although I would have expected Anne’s early life to be simply told in a documentary; here I would have liked far more information about her early life. We know that she had one daughter who, understandably, does not wish to discuss her mother – but there is really very little information about her childhood, her siblings or anyone who knew her.
We really get to know Anne in the 1950’s when she is teaching yoga and is targeting middle aged, mainly wealthy women, and begins to make some influential contacts. She was considered by her followers to be a reincarnation of Jesus and was glamorous and charismatic, whose third husband became a co-conspirator in her cult. Gradually, the cult began to target children. Anne and her followers helped organise adoptions and the children were told that they were siblings and, bizarrely, had their hair dyed blonde (or most did). As the children got older, it seems that Anne and the ‘aunties’ that were largely in charge of them began to lose control. Previously, they had wielded iron discipline – with strict time-tables, physical punishment and the withholding of food as forms of control.
The book then goes on to the police involvement in the cult, the allegations of the children and the attempts to bring justice to the victims. However, the book lacks a coherence and is emotive, rather than presenting any real facts or evidence. Obviously, it is difficult to get to the bottom of the allegations and the police, and legal case, against the cult were badly handled. Still, I really felt at the end of this book that I still really had very little knowledge about why Anne Hamilton-Byrne felt the need to control so many people, in particular children, and yet was rarely actually there. I did feel that much of the reasons behind her behaviour lay in her childhood and yet this was not properly explored. Overall, an interesting, but frustrating, read.
Rated 2.5
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Kimbofo
758 reviews152 followers
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December 28, 2016
“She is skeletal and pale, 95 years old and living in a nursing home in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. There are dense layers of secrecy surrounding her, as there have always been. Her followers have been told since the beginning to protect her, and never betray her. To these followers, Anne Hamilton-Byrne is a reincarnation of Jesus, a living god.”
So begins The Family, a powerful work of investigative journalism, by newspaper journalist Chris Johnston and documentary filmmaker Rosie Jones, which looks at the cult Anne formed in the 1960s. Known simply as “The Family”, this cult hit the headlines in 1987 when police raided its property in the hills outside of Melbourne and rescued dozens of children who lived there.
The children, who had all been adopted by Hamilton-Byrne and her husband Bill, reported serious crimes of physical and psychological abuse. They had been raised to believe they were all siblings (they weren’t) and that Anne was their real mother. Their hair was dyed blond and they wore old-fashioned clothes — think frilly dresses and buckled shoes — hugely reminiscent of the von Trapp family from The Sound of Music.
When it came to answering her accusers, Anne was nowhere to be found. It took police on three continents more than five years to track her and Bill down. The couple was then extradited to Melbourne (from their home in the Catskills in New York State) and charged with conspiracy to defraud and to commit perjury by falsely registering the births of three unrelated children as their own triplets. They were fined $AU5,000 each after they both pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of making a false declaration.
Their lives barely changed, while “their” children’s lives were left in tatters, none of them entirely sure who their birth mothers were or why they had been subjected to so much cruel and unusual punishment throughout their childhoods.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
2016-reviews
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Tez
834 reviews217 followers
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April 1, 2017
WARNINGS: Child abuse, forced adoptions, neglect, LSD dosing, cult.
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Rachel
44 reviews1 follower
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January 12, 2022
I am a huge fan of true crime and investigative journalism. I hear the word “cult” and my ears automatically ping and tune in.
This book was horrifying and yet I couldn’t put it down.
What happened to these poor children was awful. Johnston and Jones really creeped me out in this. For all the information they had, despite a few missing pieces that have gone to the graves of the perpetrators, this book was a fantastic read.
I think my interest mostly lied within the day to day lives of the cult and the poor children. The law / court stuff was a bit of a bore for me.
My heart goes out to all the exploited people in this story.
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S.C. Skillman
Author 4 books34 followers
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December 2, 2016
Having studied the notorious Australian cult "The Family" via several sources, I found this to be the most comprehensive account I've come across. I learned several new things about the cult, as the authors draw upon the testimonies of everyone involved; the cult leader herself, Anne Hamilton-Byrne; the children she abused; present and ex-cult members; the investigating police officers, and Dr Raynor Johnson whom she captivated in her "master-stroke" and upon whose mantle of respectability she relied, as she developed her cult. I also recently watched the BBC TV documentary Storyville: "The Cult That Stole Children" and this too fully fleshes out the story from all sides.
I met Dr Raynor Johnson myself, in 1976 in London, and having listened to him lecture, I too was entranced by his teachings, as expressed in his many books. I now know those teachings to have been derived from Anne Hamilton-Byrne. I had until recently tended to think of him as a kindly professor who was indoctrinated and used by Anne, and was unaware of her cruelty and abuse, but now I think he was aware of her criminal activities, and the level of her mind-control put him into a state of denial.
Having read this book, you will become aware of the full scale of the deception and folly Anne practised, and the cruel and manipulative control she exercised over the lives of many. The story also serves as a shameful indictment of the Australian justice system, which failed and betrayed her victims, and allowed her to live freely with a small fine, insignificant in comparison with the vast wealth she had accumulated from followers.
I did feel the structure of the book was slightly unsatisfactory and this may be because of the large number of named individuals who are constantly introduced, and the fact that the authors gave full rein to the verbose and rambling testimonies of some. These could have been sharply edited for more impact. I also sometimes felt an odd "woolliness" in the account, a lack of resolve and clarity, almost as if her mind control is still operating over all those who concentrate on her. In one respect, from reading the story it might even seem as if the younger Anne was simply a good yoga teacher who went astray. She discovered her beauty and charisma were effective tools she could use to make people do what she wanted, and she fell in love with control and power. Of course the reality behind all this was far deeper and more disturbing.
However, at the end the authors sum up Anne very deftly: "She invented a religion from a kitbag of delusions and known theosophical tropes at the perfect time in the perfect place and she appointed herself in charge. She gave herself magical powers. She drove Jaguars and Daimlers and wore sophisticated red dresses and high heels. She plied people with LSD to make them believe her."
Finally, a very astute observation can also be found in Film Ireland's review of the newly released film "The Family": "evil and abuse masked by the cloth of goodness and (non-official) religion flourishes everywhere in the world."
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Aurora Dimitre
Author 26 books114 followers
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August 23, 2018
|This book was won in a Goodreads Giveaway|
This is a cult that I hadn't heard about before--granted, I don't know much about cults beyond the Big Ones, more specifically the Big American Ones--and I was extremely excited to read more about it, especially since this isn't a cult that LPOTL hasn't done an episode on, so I didn't have that knowledge swimming around while reading this.
And this... shit, man, this is intense. Obviously. But on a more writing-centered, book-centered, story-centered note.... it was very well written. This is maybe one of the most engaging true crime books I've read lately, while still being supremely informative. It caught me and all I could do was sit back in horror and read about the terrible things that happened to these kids. Anne Hamilton-Byrne may be a rare female cult leader, but other than her sex, there is very little separating her from the heavy hitters we really think about when we think about cult leaders. She is textbook cult leader.
august-2018 first-reads god-damn-it-i-learned-something
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Maree Kimberley
Author 5 books25 followers
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September 29, 2017
I read this book, which I bought after seeing co-author Rosie Jones on a panel at the Brisbane Writers Festival, soon after I'd finished Sarah Hamilton-Byrne's memoir Unseen, Unheard, Unknown. Hamilton-Byrne's book told her story about growing up in The Family so it was interesting to learn more about this cult from a different perspective.
Johnston and Jones' non-fiction book is more focused on the police investigation into the empire created by cult leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne. There is some information about the cult leader's early life, which gives a little insight into what formed the adult woman who was able charm her way into convincing people she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. It sounds ridiculous and unbelievable, but she was able to influence hundreds of people, many of them wealthy, into believing her (and handing over their money). There are still loyal followers today who continue to believe Hamilton-Byrne is a god, despite the fact she has dementia and living in a nursing home.
Hamilton-Byrne created a labyrinth of lies and legal mess, and at times it is hard to follow who is doing what in this complicated true story. But what The Family does well is reveal the true extent of the damage caused by this one woman, and the followers who were under her spell. Hamilton-Byrne was responsible for fake adoptions, child abuse, and causing ongoing trauma from which some -particularly the children she illegally took into her "care" - have never recovered.
I was sad to read at the end of The Family that Sarah Hamilton-Byrne (also known as Sarah Moore), who was the first of The Family's "children" to break free of the cult and lead the way for others to escape, died in 2016. She had struggled throughout her adult life but nonetheless managed to study medicine, and worked as a doctor for many years. Sarah was a brave woman, the complete antithesis to the evil Anne Hamilton-Byrne who (until her mind deteriorated with dementia to the point that she was unable to express herself rationally) remained unrepentant.
The Family is a complicated but well-researched look into this fascinating and bizarre cult, which flourished in part due to the help of well-connected and prominent members of Melbourne society. Highly recommended for those who enjoy good investigative journalism and insights into what makes a religious cult tick.
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BOOK BOOKS
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ReadMarch 12, 2020
I BOUGHT THIS BOOK ABOUT THIS WEIRD LOLSTRALIAN CULT AND IT'S JUST SO BADLY WRITTEN. I'M SO DISAPPOINTED.
I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT. IT WAS SUPER DULL AND RAMBLING.
australia nonfiction
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Scribe Publications
561 reviews91 followers
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ReadMay 18, 2018
The Family is remarkably clear-sighted. The writers have a gift for temperate yet compelling prose that unflinchingly reveals the delusions and unreflective righteousness of much of what emerged from the counterculture. In this book, the best of what journalism should be – honest, unsentimental, incisive – is combined with the craft and storytelling skills of born writers.
Christos Tsiolkas
Harrowing but humane. An extraordinary story, impeccably researched.
Martin McKenzie-Murray
Immaculately researched ... This important book looks at how (and asks why) these abuses happened, defying the cult’s motto: “unseen, unheard, unknown”.
Readings
It’s a remarkable [story]: hair-raising, unfathomable and deeply disturbing.
Irish Independent
A powerful work of investigative journalism ... pieced together in exacting detail.
Reading Matters
[A] compelling account of one of Australia’s most notorious cults … The authors trace the extraordinary life of a woman who operated ‘‘at the edges of human belief’’.
The Saturday Age
Everyone loves a good cult story. And they don't come much better. This is the gripping story behind one of the strangest, most fascinating episodes in Australian history.
GQ
australian cult history
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Rania T
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December 8, 2019
3.5 stars. This was an in depth account of the havoc wreaked by the now deceased Anne Hamilton-Byrne on many vulnerable individuals, including children. It is still hard to comprehend how she managed to recruit so many educated professional people into her cult, and get them to do her bidding. Though the story was well told, my only gripe was that there should have been some type of glossary or family tree at the beginning of this, as it got confusing as to who was who whenever somebody new was introduced throughout the chapters. This would have strengthened this book overall.
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