On December 30, 1921, in a small rural town called Sale in Australia, Evelyn Grace Victoria Edwards was born, whom the world would later know as Anne Hamilton-Byrne.
Her birth took place in a deeply dysfunctional family. Florence, her mother, was often in a state of mental confusion, claiming to have supernatural powers, and, in a society that understood little about mental disorders, she was seen as a “medium.”
Ralph, Evelyn’s father, was an intermittent presence, leaving Florence to deal with raising the children and her own demons. This constant paternal absence meant that young Evelyn practically raised her six siblings, living between orphanages and her parents’ home. The feeling of abandonment and the desire to control her own life began to grow early on. Years later, she would change her name to Anne and attempt to rewrite her own story.
Fabricated Life
At the age of twenty, after a youth steeped in the pain of a broken home, Anne decided she needed a fresh start. She created a new identity for herself, as if shedding her skin, and became “Anne Hamilton.”
With the new name came a new purpose: to live a life opposite to the one she had known. She dreamed of creating the perfect family, having happy children, and living in a house with a white picket fence.
She married Lionel Harris and finally began to live what seemed like an ideal life. But as she dreamed of expanding her family through adoption, tragedy struck. Lionel died in a car accident on his way to pick up the child they would adopt.
From that point on, bitterness began to grow within her. Anne had lost more than a husband; she had lost control of her fantasy. To regain this control, she decided she would never again let fate take anything from her.
Yoga and the Path to Power
In the 1960s, Anne discovered yoga, a practice that was starting to become trendy in Western countries and promised spiritual connection and control. In her first class, something within her seemed to ignite.
She was determined not only to practice yoga but to master it and make it her means of gaining influence over others. She soon became an instructor, and her classes were filled with spiritual fervor, where she preached about a higher power, exploiting the fascination of her students.
In no time, Anne built a legion of followers who saw her as a spiritual, almost divine guide. She recognized the power she wielded and, with her unwavering confidence, began planting the seeds of what would become a cult, something that would finally give her the control and reverence she so deeply craved.
Charm and Manipulation
Over the years, Anne realized that to expand her cult, she needed influence and resources. She identified a new target: Dr. Rayna Johnson, a physics professor with a fascination for the supernatural.
Determined to impress him, she “predicted” that his wife would fall seriously ill during a planned trip to India. When the prediction came true, thanks to a common tourist illness, Dr. Johnson became convinced that Anne had extraordinary abilities. Thus, he and his wife became the first high-profile recruits to the cult.
Soon, Anne used Dr. Johnson’s influence to attract more followers, recruiting powerful professionals — doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and their wives, all fascinated by Anne’s charismatic persona. Together, they co-founded “The Great White Brotherhood,” the seed of the cult that would later be called “The Family.”
Drug Use
The cult grew, and Anne began to make bolder claims: she was said to be the female reincarnation of Jesus Christ and performed “miracles.” She now had doctors among her followers who could obtain psychotropic drugs to fuel the cult’s devotion. With the help of a devoted psychiatrist, Dr. Lance Whitaker, Anne began using LSD in initiation ceremonies.
During these sessions, new members were pushed to the limits of hallucination, locked in dark rooms until Anne, dressed in white robes and surrounded by smoke and strategically placed lights, appeared as a divine figure.
In this altered state of consciousness, new members truly believed they were in the presence of a divine being. Anne not only exploited human vulnerability but controlled minds with frightening precision. Thus, her followers remained loyal, convinced she was a deity in the flesh.
Stolen Babies
In a bold move, Anne persuaded a wealthy woman named Joy to leave her a psychiatric hospital in her will, where she began committing a series of disturbing crimes. With the help of cult-affiliated doctors, Anne began monitoring pregnant patients, especially young, single mothers, and stealing their newborns under the pretense that these young women were incapable of raising their children.
From there, Anne began to build her “family,” creating an army of children who would see her as their mother. Many followers were even convinced to give their own children to Anne, who forged documents so the children would believe they were her biological offspring.
In a short time, Anne had a legion of children under her control, raising them with rigid discipline in an abusive and inhumane manner. The “ideal family” she had always dreamed of was finally taking shape, but at the cost of unimaginable terror.
“Up Top”
Anne acquired an isolated property deep within a forest, known as “Up Top,” where she kept the children away from any contact with the outside world. There, under the supervision of devoted cult “aunts,” they were forced to follow a military-like regimen.
The day began at five in the morning, with yoga, sermons, and activities designed to indoctrinate them and maintain Anne’s psychological control over them. Breakfast was only served after hours of activities and consisted of fruits and cooked vegetables. Malnutrition was just one form of abuse, as the children also faced severe physical punishments, including beatings and psychological torture.
Punishments were administered by the “aunts,” while Anne appeared only occasionally, maintaining her image as a distant and loving mother. In this dark environment, the children had no concept of the outside world, living in a bubble of total control.
She wanted her children to be as thin, skeletal, and malnourished as possible, especially the girls. She was very strict with the girls, never wanting them to gain weight, and if any of the children gained weight, their food was rationed, and they received half of what they were given before, which was already almost nothing.
The other children would beg and plead with the aunts to give Cassandra (one of the girls whom Anne insisted on calling “out of standard”) more food, but Anne was having none of it and stated that Cassandra should never weigh more than three stone until she reached a height of six feet or more.
She also drugged the children with LSD. Children as young as eight or nine were given LSD twice a day, causing them to experience delusions, hallucinations, heavy sweating, trembling, hearing voices, and feeling completely lost.
Some children would sit and stare out the window for hours without moving. Most of the time, when they were under the influence of LSD, they wouldn’t say a word; their personalities simply vanished, leaving them as empty shells.
The girls were made to believe that their bodies were changing and that, upon entering puberty, they were ugly and that once they started menstruating, they would not receive any sanitary pads, tampons, cloths, or anything of the sort.
Anne often accused the girls of being lesbians if they dressed in a certain way, and she also accused them of walking in a certain manner to attract men, with these accusations beginning as young as five years old.
These children, especially the girls, grew up hating themselves, hating who they were and the way they looked, and they began to self-harm because they believed they deserved it. Furthermore, they would rub their wounds in dirt and received no help to treat infections.
Standardization of the Children
With the need to present a “perfect” family image, Anne forced all the children to dye their hair platinum blonde and wear uniformed clothing, erasing any signs of individuality. They also took diction lessons to acquire a British accent.
This visual control was part of a strategy to impress new followers and sell the image of a united and harmonious family, although the reality was much darker. In videos and photos, the children were forced to smile and pretend to be happy, while in the shadows of the property, they faced the daily horror of relentless abuse.
The Beginning of the End
Sarah and Leanne, two of the older children, began to realize that the cult was not everything they had been taught. During nighttime escapes, they managed to access the outside world and see what life was like for normal children.
These escapes marked the beginning of an internal rebellion that spread among the children, increasing tension within the isolated community. When Anne learned of the escapades, she ordered Sarah to be expelled. She disowned her coldly, stating that Sarah “was no longer her daughter.”
However, Sarah and Leanne, seeing the expulsion as liberation, went to the police and revealed the horrors of the cult.
Final Rescue
On August 14, 1987, with the testimony of Sarah and Leanne, the police raided the “Up Top” compound. The children, terrified by the arrival of the police due to the fear that had been instilled in them, initially resisted.
But, upon being removed from that hell, they were finally free. During the operation, the “aunts” were arrested, and other cult properties were searched, revealing a massive stockpile of drugs and documentation on the cult’s operations.
Anne and Bill fled to New York, where they remained out of reach of Australian justice for years. Cassandra, one of the youngest children, was severely malnourished and suffered from a condition known as psychosocial dwarfism, but with proper treatment, she began to recover.
The Australian Social Services cared for the children with dedication, keeping them together and creating an environment of support and healing.
Justice?
Although there were detailed reports from the children and extensive evidence of abuse, the Australian judicial system faced many challenges in bringing Anne and Bill to justice. The most serious charges were time-barred, and prosecutors were only able to convict them for document forgery.
The sentence was outrageous: a fine of $5,000, a punishment that in no way reflected the severity of the crimes committed. Anne walked free, and even the “aunts” received only minor penalties.
In the end, Anne’s influence over the judicial system remained strong, and her fortune allowed her to live a peaceful and luxurious life until her death in 2019.
The Survivors’ Resilience
The story of the survivors of the “The Family” cult is both tragic and inspiring, and the impact of their liberation, celebrated annually on August 14 as “Freedom Day”, showcases their resilience. Many former cult members have managed to build fulfilling lives and achieve their dreams, despite the trauma and emotional scars.
Ben Shenton, rescued at age 15, married, has two children, and is now a devoted member of his local church, working as a project manager at IBM. Leanne, one of the brave ones who escaped the cult, also moved on: she married, had children, and graduated from university, building a career in the construction industry.
Anna Ree, Bill’s biological granddaughter, studied film, worked as an English teacher in Japan, and now lives with her family in Australia. Rebecca, Anne’s biological granddaughter, successfully sued Anne and received a compensation of $250,000.
Sarah, the first stolen child and a key figure in the cult’s downfall, turned her life into a mission of awareness. She wrote a book exposing the abuses she suffered, studied medicine, became a doctor, and dedicated much of her time to volunteering in countries like India and Thailand, helping refugees.
Sarah also managed to reconnect with her biological mother, a profoundly moving moment in her life. However, the trauma followed her forever; she struggled with prescription drug addiction, attempted suicide in 2004, which resulted in the loss of a leg. In 2016, at the age of 46, Sarah passed away due to heart failure, likely caused by complications from her history of suicide attempts and addiction.
Unfortunately, the journey of “The Family” survivors was marked by both resilience and profound suffering, with some former members losing the battle against trauma, opting to take their own lives.
For many of them, the physical and emotional scars serve as a constant reminder of the cruelty they endured. Although Anne Hamilton-Byrne never took a life directly, she caused irreparable harm, leaving a trail of destruction that profoundly impacted those who escaped.
