All language subtitles for The.Cult.of.the.Family.S01E02.1080p.WEB.h264-OPUS

Why did you,
start to take in the children?

Over 21
years, 28 young people

went through our hands.

Why did you do it?

- I love children.

Once she became
the leader of the cult,

and could get
whatever she wanted,

one thing that she wanted was,

lots of little children.

She was
preparing us for,

when the time happens,
to re-educate the world,

what's left of it.

How many
are your natural children?

There
were eight or nine.

We never told them
they weren't ours.

- We were all children who
had no identity whatsoever.

- They were stolen children.

Phoney adoptions that were
organised by sect members.

- I'm wondering if
you got any comment

to make now about the children?

Shots are
being fired through windows.

Car tyres have been slashed.

There are death threats.

- Auntie Anne sucked, as
much money out of people

as she possibly could.

Yesterday,
seven members

of Anne Hamilton-Byrne's sect,

pleaded guilty of
defrauding the Commonwealth.

- I know that Muktananda
practiced black magic.

That's why Anne was there
- to learn more about it.

There were so
many bizarre stories

about who she was.

I didn't even know

that Auntie Anne
had another name.

When I ran
away I felt a lot of grief,

and a lot of heartache
and a lot of guilt

for leaving the kids
in that situation.

I actually went
in with the police

when the raid happened so
that the children realised

that it was okay.

I remember my heart pumping
the whole time and thinking,

"God, how are the children
going to look at me?"

They're
takiing us somewhere!

It'll break Mom and Dad's heart.

We were
ushered out quite quickly

out of the house,

and up to the bus, at the
end of the our driveway.

Then it's all go,
we're being driven away.

And I remember as
we go down the road,

I think it began to dawn on me,

this was actually the end of it.

I was going to do everything
I could to never go back.

At the weekend,
six children were seized

from a property
owned by The Family.

Five of the children appeared

in the Melbourne
Children's Court

under care and
protection applications.

Perhaps a week
after they had been rescued

from Lake Eildon, I went to
Allambie to meet the children.

I remember walking
into the room,

and there was just
this enormous buzz.

It was as if the
children were birds

that had been freed
from an iron cage.

They were just
totally in flight.

- I remember things like
being able to do the dishes,

and this was exciting
and wonderful.

Being able to go and get
food whenever I want to.

Being able to learn
to ride a bike.

- How we'd all have
dinner together and laugh,

and lots of food, and watch TV.

- They said you can eat
as much as you want.

Well, I said, "My stomach
is only a certain size."

- There were a team of people
working with the children.

Police, medical people,
and myself as a counsellor.

I was asked to work
with those 10 children

to identify who they
really were, because

they've grown up believing

that they were all the children

of Anne Hamilton-Byrne
and Bill Hamilton-Byrne.

They were barbecues and
outings, and trips to Luna Park.

We reached out to the
children from our hearts.

But as I sat down one-to-one
with the children,

I realised that there was
some pretty dark stuff

that they were dealing with.

All that you've
known, is suddenly removed,

and you're looking
for a foundation.

You're looking for
things that are familiar.

You're trying to find
things that are solid.

Trust
was a big issue.

Could we really
trust these policemen

and these other people
that we've never seen

before in our lives,

that they were going
to look after us,

and make Eildon go away,
make Anne and Bill go away,

make the Aunties go away?

- They'd grown up with
a perverse fairy tale.

They had been
systematically deprived

of the truth for
their entire lives.

It was quite a tangled
web of birth certificates,

deed poll name changes,
and affidavits in regard

to adoption that I
had to sort through.

Once I had the records
gathered together,

I then went back and sat down
individually with the child.

I was absolutely
devastated that I wasn't

who I thought I was.

I was very devastated by
the betrayal, I think.

I went down to
the births and deaths,

and asked, "Can I please
have the birth certificate

of Sarah Hamilton-Byrne?"

And I got back this
piece of paper saying,

there is no such person
as Sarah Hamilton-Byrne.

And then I thought, oh, okay.

"Well, who am I?"

The only way that we
could at that point in time,

establish the true
identity of the children,

of these young people,
was to try and locate

their natural mother
and natural father,

and then take blood samples.

It was one of the first
times in Victoria,

where DNA was used to match
blood to prove parentage.

Just imagine saying to
somebody, fancy saying to woman,

"Do you remember giving birth?"

"Do you remember that in
this year, particular year,

did you give birth?"

Straight away you're
bringing up, in some cases,

some traumatic memories.

And then trying to
track down the father.

And then saying to this guy,

"I think you've got a child."

"What?"

Bang.

It didn't leave a very
nice taste in your mouth,

but you had to do it.

In the 70s we didn't talk
about unmarried mothers.

Young girls, 16, 17,
who fell pregnant,

often weren't seen
for months on end.

And then they would appear back

in their normal lives
and communities.

And they would've gone
through their pregnancy.

No one knew that
they had given birth.

But the child had
been passed over.

- When women went to
the hospital then,
if they were single,

and they go for their
first appointment,

their card was
marked with an "A",

which meant they were
to see the Almoner,

who was the social worker.

And from that moment
on, the assumption was

that the child was
available for adoption.

If they tried during
that time to question

the notion of adoption,
they were shut down.

They were basically told that,

"There's no way you
can keep this child."

In the late 60s,
there wasn't supporting

mothers pension and
things like that.

And particularly if you came
from a religious family,

it was still a great shame
to have a kid out of wedlock.

My biological mother was made
to sign an adoption form.

And then during my birth, a
pillow was put over her head.

She was given made
tranquilisers.

And as soon I was born, I
was taken away instantly.

She wasn't even
allowed to look at me.

- Most mothers who talk about
this say something like,

"I heard a cry, then
I heard a door slam."

And that's the child
being taken out.

The idea was, if
you see the child,

it'll be even harder
to part with them.

This
couple have been waiting

11 months to adopt a baby boy.

Today is the first
time they will see him.

Now they must wait
patiently for the fulfilment

of the 30-day consent period.

If the mother of the baby,

decides to revoke her decision,

this couple would
have to give him up.

But this distressing
situation rarely happens.

This little illegitimate
bundle, will become legitimised.

By adoption, this
child will escape

the handicap of its birth.

His real mother will
almost certainly

never set eyes on him again.

And with all the love he can
expect from his new parents,

he may never feel the loss.

In this case, one woman's
loss could turn out

to be somebody else's gain.

John Mackay,
was one of those who

adopted a child

and let Anne Hamilton-Byrne,
look after him.

- Anne and Bill wanted
to construct a family,

of these children, to
rear them as a family.

I think for very good
psychological reasons.

They've been able to
provide a stable environment

with a lot of love.

Something
that you weren't able to do?

- That's true, I wasn't able.

- I wanted to ask
him if he knew,

after he handed that child over,

what had happened to that child?

The brutality it experienced.

Marie Mohr's my name, Dr Mackay.

I'm wondering if you've
got any comment to make now

about happened to the children?

Why won't you have...

Is that all you've
got to say, Dr Mackay?

After what you put
those kids through.

There's no need for
that, Dr. Mackay.

You raised
them under the name,

Hamilton-Byrne?

You arranged for
passports in that name?

- We did.

Even though that
was not their legal name?

- Well, yes, but we did
it honourably we thought.

Quite honourably.

Why?

What was the purpose of it?

- Because it's easier,
if you're going overseas,

into England, to get
treatment for the children,

when it's all in one family.

If they are in one family.

We wanted
them to be a family.

- You see?

- A loved family.

- If they are in one family.

- We wanted to be a family.

- You see?

- A loved family.

When you're
investigating a crime,

you've got to keep an open mind.

But as the
investigation went on,

in my mind she was becoming
more clinical, more cold.

It was about Anne,
and no one else.

There were so many bizarre
stories about who she was.

We had to drill down
and get the facts.

That's part of the chase,

establishing "Who am I
actually dealing with?"

- Well, I didn't know
anything about her background

until the late 80s when all the

news reports started coming out.

I didn't even know that
Auntie Anne had another name.

I think it was Evelyn
or something, wasn't it?

She told us that
she came from some royal family.

- We, as children,
thought she was beyond

the Queen of England.

She'd even spent
time with the Queen,

having cups of tea.

- She was a singer, she
was an opera singer.

We had a
castle somewhere in Europe,

and you know, quite
la-di-da, really.

Anne was the direct,
she was Jesus incarnate,

the descendant of God.

And we were, descended
from the House of David,

which apparently was
Jesus' bloodline.

- When we were older,
and we actually found out

that she was a railway
yard worker's daughter.

And her mother was a mental
patient in a hospital.

It was really quite a sad story.

I think that she was
trying to portray

this perfect life, and
this perfect family,

something that she didn't have.

The father was
absent a lot of the time.

Anne was placed in Brighton
Orphanage a couple of times.

She came from an extremely
impoverished background,

and she was put into
a very rich suburb

where she could sort of see,
very privileged children

walking past to their
private schools.

And I think she had fantasies
that she'd get that somehow.

One thing you
learn as a detective,

is that official
documents don't lie.

We turned to the service record

of Anne's first husband, Lionel
Harris, who was a corporal

in the Australian Air
Force, for information.

We discovered that two
years after Judith was born,

Lionel applied to
leave the air force,

because he was worried about
his wife's mental health.

He said, she was very
abnormal to her child,

and her behaviour
was very strange.

In the only official
diagnosis we have,

of Evelyn's mental health,

her doctor described
her as depressed,

and neglecting Judith.

He feared, she'd inherited her
mother's mental instability,

and may give way.

Two years later, Lionel
is a car salesman

And they have moved to Sydney.

In 1955, a single woman
couldn't adopt a child.

It seemed that Evelyn's dreams
of a larger family were over.

But Evelyn didn't give up.

She had cosmetic surgery
and elocution lessons,

and she changed her name.

A new person, Anne,
emerged from the tragedy.

Once she became
the leader of a cult,

and could get
whatever she wanted,

one thing that she wanted
was lots of little children.

Lots of little perfect
little children,

in perfect little dresses,

with perfect little blonde hair.

- I made her pregnancy clothes.

Tell us about
her pregnancy clothes.

- Yes.

Do tell.

- Yes, all right.

I can actually draw it if
you've got a piece of paper,

I'll draw you

- Just explain to me.

Yeah, well it went on a
yoke, very full sleeves.

I made hundreds
of them for years.

How many
pregnancies do you think

she would have gone through?

- Well, it seemed to
go on for years, Lex.

That I was making these clothes.

Why?

- She seemed to be
pregnant all the time.

Just one after the other,

plus she had the
triplets, she told me.

Did you ever see
her actually pregnant?

I never
felt her stomach.

- Anne told me one night
that three of the children

were her triplets,
that she'd had them.

She just looked me straight
in the face and said,

"I had these three children."

I'm thinking, "You didn't
have those three children.

"You must think I'm a bloody
idiot to tell me that."

But I just said,
"Oh, yes, okay."

Agreed with her.

She's not somebody
you argue with.

- Anne Hamilton-Byrne's age,

meant they couldn't
be her children.

She'd had a hysterectomy
years before

some of these
children were born.

It wasn't difficult for people
that actually questioned it.

The truth is, we
weren't their children.

So while they created that
construct, we weren't.

- We were all children who
had no identity whatsoever.

Didn't know our own
parents, really.

Our identities were
carved out by one person,

to suit them.

My dad was Bill's son.

So that obviously,
Bill was not my father,

but my grandfather.

My mother and father
met in Newhaven,

which is a mental institution.

Dad could see that he was
unable to look after me.

And of course Bill said,
he would be able to.

- I feel so, so
sorry for my dad,

because he really didn't
have a choice in the matter.

They had been
looking after Anouree,

because Treena had
become pretty unstable.

They put a bit of paper
in front of her to sign.

Who was the
guardianship to go to, Anne?

Dad and Anne.

At the time I can
remember thinking,

"She couldn't be
in a better place."

Most of
the time in my career,

I actually didn't take
stuff home with me,

but this case I did.

My wife actually became very
involved with the kids as well.

It's almost like they become
part of your family, I guess.

- I remember as a 15 year old,

the surreal experience of
knowing Anne wasn't my mother.

And then who was?

They speak of winning the lotto,

think of the exact opposite.

It was Auntie Joy.

Yeah, it wasn't good.

She said, "Listen, you're
an embarrassment to me,

don't bother turning
up on the door,

I'll close the
door in your face."

So that terminated
any possibility

of a mother/son
relationship very quickly.

- Are you a follower of
Mrs Hamilton-Byrne's?

- I'm a friend of
Mrs Hamilton-Byrne.

- Do you believe
she's a teacher?

- I believe that she is just

a great friend of
mine, all right?

- I was adopted legally
by Trish and Don Webb.

And then once they got me,

they handed me over to Anne.

And I know for a fact
that my mother actually

started looking for me when
she married my stepfather.

So she'd been looking
for me probably a year

after I had been adopted out.

And she tells me
that it was like,

that something was missing.

- At the birth, we've got a
doctor who's a sect member,

a midwife that's a sect member,

a social worker
that's a sect member,

and the head of the sect,

standing outside the hospital.

And within a period of 15
to 20 minutes from birth,

child born, child taken.

- I was born at Royal
Women's Hospital.

And Auntie Anne had all
the people working there.

That's how she obtained
some of us kids.

I was just handed over.

I'm sure my mom was
coerced to give me up,

and I don't believe that
she really wanted to.

'Cause why else would you
revoke the adoption three times?

And then they can't find me.

The legal system goes,
"Where is this baby?"

- I mean, I knew Roland
wasn't my biological brother.

I was told that Roland
was to be presented

as the child of Don Webb
and Elizabeth Whitaker.

And I was also told
at the very outset

that if Roland ever discovered
that he was adopted,

he would kill himself.

And I guess I believed that.

So I was was very, very careful.

Never, ever, ever to tell
Roland he was adopted.

- Lex de Man gave me the
option to leave The Family,

for me to become
award of the state.

So, I had to make a
decision then and there,

what I wanted to do.

And I had to make the decision
to stick with my family.

Because I couldn't see a
future, being taken away.

My loyalty was with my mom
and dad, and Auntie Anne,

and that was very strong.

- Roland wasn't the only
child we were worried about.

Anne and her followers
had bought up

a lot of the houses
in Ferny Creek.

Many of them had
swapped partners

so they were living with
children who weren't their own.

There were allegations
of rampant drug use,

and harsh discipline.

- My mother gave
birth to me at 16,

so, you've got one child
looking after a baby

with absolutely no support
from her own family.

Going forwards to 1970,

my mother had married
one of the cult members.

I came home from school
one day, I was about 10.

My mother was almost in a
coma, I couldn't rouse her,

and I became very concerned.

I called the neighbours.

And then, Elizabeth
Whitaker was sent up.

Elizabeth Whitaker was
a registered nurse,

one of Anne Hamilton-Byrne's
lieutenants.

I was told, that my mother
had been put in hospital.

And, it may be some
time before I see her.

Elizabeth, presented as a
very friendly, caring woman.

She said, "Oh, look, you
can come and stay with me."

I was just told, "Well,
she's a bit unwell,

and she's not a
very good mother,

and look, you've got all
those lovely people here,

all those aunties, and uncles,

and their nurses and doctors.

They'll look after
you, you'll be fine."

About a year after
that, round about 1971

pulled me
aside one day and he said,

"I'm going to give you a
healing on the weekend."

And he said, "I'm going to
put a scarf around your head.

I'm going to give
you psilocybin,

and you're going to
see pretty colours."

Then I was in a completely
different world.

I felt pressure on my chest,
and I felt hands on me,

down towards my genital
area, then around the back.

For the next few days I've
had bleeding from my anus,

and I had a lot of
pain round that area.

I know that he
sexually assaulted me

in some way, form, or shape.

- I don't think at first
anyone in the authorities

realised the
complexities of the sect.

And so, they thought they
were perhaps dealing with

a child abuse case,
and they were.

But I don't think they realised
the layers underneath that.

- I really don't believe
anyone knew what to do.

This was the first time
they had a group of

x number of kids coming
out of a completely

controlled environment,

and trying to interface
them into the world.

We took the
girls back to their prison.

For them it brought
back memories of terror.

- When we'd be naughty,

they'd lock us in the
shed for the night.

The night?

Yeah.

- Well, the police
knew I knew a lot,

so they wanted to
pick my brains.

Because by then, I'd done
dozens of stories on the sect.

I spent a lot of
time with the kids.

They became visitors
to my house.

Some of them lived
with us for years.

I do remember one of my bosses
saying to me at one stage,

"Are you a social
worker or a journalist?"

And I said, "Well, at the moment

it seems I'm a bit of both."

- For years I had believed
that there was no escape.

I had been brought
up to fear and expect

the worst of the outside world.

I had been taught that police

and other outsiders
would hurt us.

And that men would
want to rape us.

- Well, when I ran away
it was very difficult,

because we weren't
taught anything about
the outside world.

I didn't even know
how to cross a road.

I remember going to the bank,

and asking them if
I could borrow $50,

to go and buy clothes.

So, I mean they must have
thought I was really weird.

- I was made award
of the State and

I struggled,

Failed HSC, got a job,
got sacked from it.

I'd been quite suicidal,
very depressed.

I was starved of love.

You open doors to things,
in pursuit of that love.

I had to be very careful,

that I didn't fall
into another cult.

- I was in and out
of a psych unit,

because I wanted to kill myself.

And sometimes the
anger was so deep,

I'd be - you're standing up,

and you're storming
around the house going,

"I can't calm down,
I can't calm down."

Because I just didn't know.

And you'd stop and you'd.

at the floor.

You know, you just...

I can't actually articulate
the strength of it.

- I feel as though Anne
and the other members

of the sect stole my childhood.

I resent not being allowed
to go to a normal school,

and not being allowed to
form normal relationships.

- Do you want to
stop for a while?

Or do you want to
keep trying to go?

- I'll keep going.

- You could see, they
wanted something done

about what had happened to them.

But, you didn't really
want to expose them to

the pressures and the trauma
of having to relive all that

and give evidence
in a witness box.

- The black three cornered cane
was one of the most feared.

- You couldn't hear
those stories without
it affecting you,

if you had any heart at all.

And that's why the police,
did become so involved.

They wanted justice
for those children.

We've been
blown up all over the place

the place now.

You think about it,
you've got enough brains

those of you who are left.

Every rebuff is a challenge.

So I'm saying to
you, go forward.

All the powers of
darkness, rise up,

and try to overwhelm us.

But, I have done my best
and I'm still there.

Those who are devoted
to me, realise this,

and they are united with me.

Many retreat back
into their darkness.

And that's what's happened,

to those who have left.

Self-interest,
doesn't make you seek.

No, I'm not half nuts...

- We knew that she
had committed crimes.

We knew that, we needed to
get her back in this country.

We knew that we had to
get her before a court,

for everyone involved
in this sect to see,

that no one is above the law.

- Mum, just was blindly,

following everything
that she said and did.

She met Albert Baker.

He was another sect member,
and she ended up marrying him.

It was really a
bigamous marriage,

because she was actually
still married to my father.

Albert! smile
you're on camera now.

I think that's enough of that.

- How did Anne Hamilton Byrne,

come to have control over the
lives of nearly 30 children?

Well, she could
never have done it

without the grownup members
of her so-called Family.

This report, from Marie Mohr.

} Photographer,
Alan Crisp,

a sect member for over a decade.

"Is Anne still your guru?

Even though, you know the
children were locked away now.

Is she still your guru Alan?"

- Get lost Marie.

Get bloody lost.

Other members include
general practitioners,

Dr Christine Fleming
and Dr John McKay.

- She targeted the
people that she wanted.

And the people that she
wanted, had either money

or had expectations of money.

Everyone had a job.

But then they came home,

and then she had
tasks for them to do.

And people were working,
you know, 16 hours a day.

And working, and
working, and overworking

to the point of exhaustion.

And nothing was ever quite
right or never enough.

Pretty much standard
brainwashing technique.

Yesterday, seven
members of Anne Hamilton

Byrne's sect, pleaded guilty
of defrauding the Commonwealth

over total of $195,000.

- No comment.

- No comment.

The
three of those women,

Helen Buchanan, Elizabeth
Whitaker, and Margot Maclellan

were among the women Anne
Hamilton-Byrne ordered

to look after the children
locked away on the sect's

Lake Eildon property.

Mum had done a lot of illegal
stuff with Auntie Anne,

or for Auntie Anne.

She was charged and
put in prison for
Social Security fraud.

She was pissed off about it.

But, Auntie Anne was her guru.

So she stood by
her thick and thin.

Auntie Anne sucked as
much money out of people

as she possibly could.

Anybody who joined The
Family, had to pay dues.

Money to go and
do the meditation,

money to go and do the yoga,

money to fund this, money
to fund that, you know.

Auntie Anne very rarely put her
own hands in her own pocket.

- We estimated Anne's wealth

to be around $50 million.

To be a member of the sect,
you had to donate part of your

wages to Anne, and that
included the Aunties

They actually had to
pay Anne the privilege

of caring for the children,

socalled 'caring' for
the children at Eildon.

Anne was ambitious.

She wanted to expand the cult.

So she bought several properties
in Australia, and England,

and also near Hurleyville,

A town in the Catskill
Mountains in upstate New York.

} This
is Swami Muktananda,

the head of a multimillion
dollar empire,

and described by
his followers as

one of the most significant
figures in contemporary,

spiritual life.

Based in India, he
travels the world

recruiting adherents,
showing people the way.

In the seventies,
there were quite a few yogis,

coming over to the West,
and attaining a lot of

money, and fame, and power.

But he was one of the biggest.

I mean, he was followed
by a lot of celebrities.

There were ashrams and
centres, all over the world.

Thousands and
thousands of devotees.

While I was on tour
with Muktananda,

Anne Hamilton-Byrne showed up.

She had her whole
entourage with her,

of these small children,
with dyed blonde hair,

and identical bows
in their hair.

She was like this spider,

with all these
little baby spiders.

It was one of the strangest
things I've ever seen.

She had a lot of money.

I don't know where she got it.

But she bought a property
very near the Ashram.

And they would come stay there.

- We'd go to the
Ashram, every afternoon.

So Anne could show us off to,

the Swami Muktananda clan,

in order that perhaps,

one or two of them at least
would transfer over to her cult.

- She was jealous.

I mean, she was the Messiah.

She should be followed by, all
these many beautiful people!

But I got this sense, that,

Anne was there to get
power from Muktananda.

And Muktananda was
there, to show up Anne.

He gave her the
name, Ma Yoga Shakti.

Ma Yoga Shakti means "the
great mother Shakti".

I mean, it was like he was
making a joke out of her.

People would sit in meditation,

and he'd go around, and
either swat you with

this big peacock feather wand.

He was practising all
these ancient techniques.

That if you do
them enough times,

you actually attained
powers to take over someone.

I know that Muktananda,
practised black magic.

I believe that that's why Anne
was there to be around him,

and to learn more about it.

Anne told everybody
that she had certain powers.

She would put a curse on people,
if they did anything wrong,

or something that
she didn't like.

She used to have these
little blocks of ice,

where she'd put people's
names in the freezer.

Any of the police that were
involved in trying to help us,

she would put their
names in the ice.

} And what would
happen if their names

were in the ice?

- She would do
something evil to them,

and they would
suddenly fall sick.

The only person that could
saved them would be her.

} The fact
is, that the enormous

majority of people, do
not want this knowledge.

The fact is, they would
like to see me dead

- Anne cursed me
because I betrayed her.

Betrayed the cult motto of
unseen, unheard, unknown.

And dared to tell the
police what was happening

to the other children.

And once I betrayed
her, I was the Judas.

Every Messiah has to
have a Judas, I guess

- What effect would that
have a curse on you?

- I thought I going
to die because

I'd done the statement.

- How did you believe you'd die?

By what means?

I don't know. I just
knew I was going to.

Because you can't betray your
master and expect to live.

- A young man dared
to criticise, and
disagree with Anne.

She says, "You've turned
away from the light.

You are going to die
of a heart attack."

So what did he do?

He went home and
had a heart attack.

No one thought they were going
off worshipping the devil.

People have been used to
thinking of evil as being ugly

whereas it's not.

It looks beautiful.

It can use
everything, even love,

to get it's own
way to get power.

} That's beautiful.

Now that's really beautiful.

Right, honey?

- Beautiful boys.

} Stay like
that for awhile.

It's beautiful.

} She was
lovely to me, and kind.

Something that my mother
would never be, you know?

} Who was this?

} Anne.

Beautiful boys for
the children-oh how lovely.

- I'd never had so much love
poured on me, really, you know.

Because I was an incest child,

and I just had never
experienced love.

- She wasn't giving love.

She was offering it,
and then taking it back.

That's how she made
those poor Aunties.

At Eildon, do these
appalling things to children.

She broke their spirit.

- Sometimes she'd look at you,

and you thought she
really loved you.

I don't know.

It's hard to say just how
devoted we were to her,

and how much we
hung off every look.

And every thought
she had about us.

We wanted so much
for her to love us.

But I don't think
she ever really did.

- I took it on myself, to talk
to one of the psychiatrists

who'd dropped out of the group.

And I said, "What
would you say Anne is,

medically speaking?"

And he said, "Well,
she's a psychopath."

She was intuitively,
diabolically,

able to see into people.

} In the 1950s and 60s,

medical and military
circles were experimenting

with LSD as a truth drug.

Even the CIA and the
KGB were involved.

Psychiatrists in The
Family would have told Anne

about its potential, to
dig deep into the minds

of her followers.

- She found out everything.

People under the drug,

went back to their childhood,

they told all their
secrets, good and bad.

- She would gather
all that information,

and use it later
to destroy people's

marriages and relationships.

I'm not aware of any marriage
that survived that Family.

} The LSD was
like an interrogation,

which was always trying
to get down to something,

usually sexual or shameful.

- My whole life changed in 1984.

I changed personality.

Became a different
person, got initiated.

I went over to England in
September, October, 1984.

I was put to bed up, in the
guestroom upstairs at Broom.

And then Anne gives you the LSD.

And I was put under LSD,

for a very long period of time.

I think it was, a couple
of weeks at least.

- What makes you think
it was a couple of weeks?

- You know, I could
kind of tell the

days and nights going past,

because of the clutter
of the noise underneath,

as they prepared food.

She'd just come in like
every 12 hours or so.

And give me another piece,

cause I wasn't
working hard enough.

- She had asked questions
about your sexual thoughts,

your sexual desires,
your sexual fantasies,

what you liked, what
you didn't like.

Whether you were breastfed,

whether you weren't breastfed,

whether you were
really homosexual,

or whether you weren't.

- We've been involved
with Muktananda that,

for a few years prior to that.

And I was very attracted to
him personally as a guru,

And she really, really,
really wanted me to deny him,

and accept her as
the living Christ.

She really hammered me on it.

Either to break me or
she wanted me to be hers.

- I was just out
of it, for months.

And then one day I woke up,

as I was stepping into a car,

to go somewhere with Bill.

Bill said, "Oh,
you're back with us."

And it was several months
after, what had happened.

I just flipped out, into
some sort of psychotic state.

- She seemed to use sex,

to bring out the guilt
that people felt.

She would target the
women in the group.

Some of them had had
multiple partners.

So she would publicly
name them and shame them.

It was a way of
keeping them compliant.

Anne treated pregnant
women very badly.

Pre and postnatal
depression, was common.

And it happened to me.

She just told people
that they weren't allowed

to visit me at all,

so I had no visitors.

And, you know just,

I got very depressed
while I was pregnant.

I was very thin.

I was shaking all the time.

I couldn't drive.

I couldn't think.

And so she said, "Well, I'll
take care of your children

because you know,
you're a wreck."

And she sent me over
to England for a year.

- My children were
sent up to Eildon

and the results
were catastrophic.

David was very,
very badly treated.

He was given back to
me when he was seven.

Anne said, "If he'd stayed up
there, he would have died."

So she gave him back to me.

He couldn't speak.

He'd lost his speech.

David has no memory now,

of anything that happened
to him before he was seven.

Nothing.

And, Matthew became
very depressed.

He tried to take his
life when he was 16.

He couldn't come to
terms with how he felt,

his depression

and he finally succumbed.

Matthew suicided
eventually when he was 20.

- There was so many people
that were so adversely

affected by this group.

That lost their money.

That lost their properties.

They lost their minds.

I submitted a detailed report.

And suggested that the
only real way forward

was a Royal Commission.

Where many, many of
these people could,

and would come forward,
and give evidence.

But, it was just rejected.

I don't even know
that it went anywhere,

apart from my
immediate superiors.

- The wheels of justice
were just too slow.

Where was the justice
for the adult victims?

Where was the justice
for the child victims?

Why wasn't she made
brought to account?

We got word, that
she was in Hawaii.

It seemed to me it
was about time that

she answered some questions.

Hello, Mrs. Hamilton Byrne.

Marie Mohr from Channel Nine.

Have you got any comment
now about why you kept

those children locked
away for so long?

- No comment.

- Why not?

- They weren't locked away.

- They weren't locked away.

- They weren't locked away?

- No, they weren't.

- No, excuse me.

- Can you explain to
me how you treated

the children like you did?

And Bill, would you like
to give explanations

as to your involvement

in why the children
were locked away?

- I've got nothing
to say to you.

- You locked up, and
you stole the children.

- Stole?

- You stole them
from sect members?

- Excuse me

- Got doctors to
organise the adoptions.

- I'll just go and
phone the police

- Excuse me.

- But why won't you give
us - excuse me get with...

- Excuse me.. But why won't you

We have been advised

to say nothing.

You have no right to be
asking me those things.

- Do you think you
have spiritual powers?

- I don't think, I
have spiritual powers.

- We had several defamation
cases brought against

us by different members
of the sect, not Anne!

Anne doesn't ever do
her own dirty work.

A long period of time where,

I'd be lucky to get a night's
sleep without the phone going

through the night, hang
up calls, hang up calls.

Just harassment campaign.

- Marie had of course, the
private wallet of the media

empire. I worked
within the bureaucracy.

You've actually got to
convince your bosses.

That what you're talking
about is actual -

- Not bizarre - that
it's a possibility.

- I don't know
exactly what happened,

but there's no doubt
that it had to have come

from within their group.

- The matter came to me,

through anxious,
and unhappy police

On a confidential basis, I mean,

I would never, even to
this day, say who it was.

It was one policeman,
who used me,

to say what needed to be said.

- The matters
being investigated,

are most serious.

Shots, are being
filed through windows.

Car tyres are being slashed.

There are death threats.

Not one charge has been laid,

because the squad concerned,

is not able to obtain
permission to travel interstate,

to conduct interviews.

The police are saying,
"For God's sake,

give us the resources
to do the job.

Let us get on with the job."

- Around that point,

there was quite a
deal of publicity.

I think that became very
embarrassing to government.

And, strangely enough,
all of a sudden we got,

more resources.

Computers, and
analysts to assist in

getting together
all this information

that went back for so long.

} Today in Melbourne,

19 year old Roland Webb,

was charged with
threatening to kill

investigating police,
and reporter Marie Mohr.

- The story is that,
one of the police

that rioted Lake Eildon

when I took the kids, hit Mom.

You don't stuff with
me and my family.

} Have you
got any reason why

you made these allegations?

} All I wanted to
do was just to leave me,

and The Family-alone.

Do you have the right
to whatever religion

you want to be in?

- Is that correct?

} Go on.

} Tell me,
is that correct?

} Roland, I don't know.

} You should
know 'cause you're a pig.

- Sometimes I don't know
when to shut my mouth.

This mouth has got me
into trouble sometimes.

and like you, I
don't fear authority.

- Well, I stand by my
parents, and their followers.

It's a free world.

I got to follow them
every inch of the way.

- Uncle Bill, he
was tickled pink.

Couldn't stop talking
how, I was the only person

that stood up for The Family.

So much so that he promised
me $50,000 in his will,

for that very act.

- I know at the time, many
of my friends outside work,

were really worried
about my state of health.

It's not a nine to five job.

You're mind continues to tick.

What's the next step
I'm going to do?

How's that witness going,

that I have just interviewed?

You're dealing with people
that have gone through

enormous emotional trauma.

And so, when you're
taking their strong,

and horrendous statements,

it's pretty taxing work.

And there were times during
the task force where,

you dealt with senior people,

and they just didn't understand
the impact it was having.

It was a culture in
those days, you know,

"Oh you're a detective. Don't
be bloody weak just move on".

- I can remember one
policeman saying to me,

he wanted to see me.

He's a big tough cop.

We went into private room.

He just looked me in
the eye, and he said,

"What happened to those kids
is giving me nightmares."

- Two of the members
needed their own

psychological treatment,
and left the task force.

It was frustrating.

And, it was a bit
depressing as well.

Just to actually have that
conflict if you like...

being close to those
great young kids ..

And then not being

able to do the
absolute best for them.

It should have been
a royal commission.

For the benefit
of those children,

and the many, many, people
who are so adversely

affected by this group.

The only thing that you
can do is lead by example,

and keep focused.

- We started then to piece
together all the evidence

we had, where the evidence
was missing, and what

we needed to do.

And where was the
strongest case,

that we could find,

in a short period of time,
against Anne and Bill.

We gave each alleged
offender a colour,

each series of events a number,

and each victim, a
letter of the alphabet.

I was absolutely
totally obsessed,

and others on the
team were as well.

We were getting
pressured to wrap it up,

but we kept on working.

Then came the breakthrough.

The key to the
activities of the cult,

laid in the brain
of Peter Kibby.

He broke the code of
silence, within that sect.

We just have to get Anne,

and get Bill back to Australia.

- This was a mission for him.

And he was determined to
write a very horrible wrong

} Anne Hamilton
Byrne and her husband William,

were arrested at their
home in upstate New York.

} This morning,
Victorian police had

Anne and William Hamilton
Byrne back on Australian soil.

- When she was extradited
back, it was all mad chaos.

I mean, I loved her to bits.

But jeez, she was a
bloody trouble maker.

} We
are winning through,

by the power of the Holy spirit.

This is the Lord God's battle.

- Whilst a large part of me
didn't want to see her suffer.

I still wanted
there to be justice.

- This is it.

This is the day of judgment.

Were we going to get an outcome,

that was going to be
the right outcome?

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