All language subtitles for The.Cult.of.the.Family.S01E03.1080p.WEB.h264-OPUS

Why did you
start to take in the children?

- I love children.

At the weekend,
six children were seized

from a property
owned by the sect,

under care and
protection applications.

- You stole them
from sect members?

Doctors to organise
the adoption?

- I was just handed over.

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

Yesterday, seven members

of Anne Hamilton-Byrne's sect

pleaded guilty of deploying
the Common Wealth.

Auntie Anne sucked
as much money outta people

as she possibly could.

I believe that
that's why Anne was there,

to be around and to
learn black magic.

- Anne cursed me because
I betrayed the cult

motto of unseen,
unheard, unknown.

- She told us that she came
from some royal family.

They definitely did have
friends in high places.

- There was a lot of talk
about ruling the world

and having a perfect world.

We used to call the
place a concentration camp.

- What was going on was wrong.

Someone had to do
something about it.

I was in the zone,

I needed to finish this case.

Then
came the breakthrough.

- We heard that the sect
solicitor, Peter Kibby,

had left the family after
an argument with Anne.

The key to the
activities of the cult

probably laid in the
brain of Peter Kibby,

because he had done
all the documentation

on transactions for
all the houses the cult

had bought for Anne,

on some of the
births, and so forth.

The golden rule is a
document doesn't lie.

People lie on the documents.

And we found a crime

where he falsified a
statutory declaration.

For a solicitor, that's
a pretty serious offence,

because they can lose their
practising certificate.

- Myself and Lex de Man
travelled to a country town

and spoke to this gentleman
who was a practising solicitor

at the time.

And charged him with perjury.

- And we said, "If you wish
to talk to us about the cult

"and about Anne, it may well
assist in the court proceedings

"in the future."

A week or two later

find when in the office

this really animated and I
have to say delightful voice

is on the end of
the phone saying

"Lex, Peter Kibby"

Yes Peter,

"I'd like to have a cup
of coffee with you."

He was so angry of what
his life had become

that he didn't hold back.

I've been shown a legal
document numbered 60610

which pertains to
the appointment of
Anne Hamilton-Byrne

as the legal guardian
of Simon John Mackay.

My recollection is because
it was the first one

I didn't know whether
I had to file the

Appointment of Guardian.

She had physical custody
or control of the child

and wished to changed
name child of the child

to Hamilton-Byrne.

- We arrange for
Peter to be picked up

every morning at 8:30

and we'd take him down to this

Police headquarters.

And took his
handwritten statement

and it took right about
about three months.

- I've been shown two
certified documents

which pertain to the
registration of a child

alleged to have been born to

Anne and William Hamilton-Byrne.

In January of that
year I went to England

and called on Anne
at Broom Farm.

Anne appeared to be pregnant

and told me that the baby
was due in March that year.

Now this is where
the dates conflict.

I said that I saw John
Mackay in England in 1974.

It was

- Peter was a victim.

Like many of the people
who were in the cult,

Peter suffered from a disease of

compulsive obsessive disorder.

It would take him to
have a shower sometimes

two to three hours
and four bars of soap.

And so he never
got to the office.

- He was desperate to get
rid of this affliction,

and Anne told him
all he had to do

was just obey everything
Anne told him to do

and he would be cured.

- And at one stage
Anne actually arranged

and had him have a leucotomy

surgery on the brain
through the eye socket,

- And I think he had
frontal lobe damage

actually after that

which made his behaviour
even more bizarre

than what it was before.

- Peter was not a bad person.

But he'd been deceived
through his illness

to commit crimes for Anne.

- I prepared the affidavit
for Mrs Frances Demontfort,

Jacqueline Drew and
Myrtle Johnstone.

These three people were
in fact non-existent

and their names and addresses
have been invented by Anne.

- By then we're
building a dossier

and a profile on a whole
range of documents.

- I've seen a Transfer
of land numbered 6435925.

The signature of Fiona
MacDonald was signed

by Anne Hamilton-Byrne
herself in my presence

on around the 10th
of November 1976.

I in fact was acting for both
the owner and the purchaser.

- With Peter was going
through each of the documents

to affirm his knowledge of
how a document was created.

- I'm sorry if I'm
being very pedantic

- It's all right.

- That's what bloody
solicitors should be like.

- Even though we had a
lot of pressure on us

to wrap up the investigation,

it's not a thing to rush.

Peter, was the key to the door.

He broke the code of
silence within that sect

The way I look at Peter is

as someone who had the guts

to actually stand up and say,

"no - what we did was wrong."

- And what is
there is the truth?

- Yep, oh it is.

I'd be a bloody fool

to be saying anything
else, wouldn't I?

- Thank you very much
for your co-operation.

- And once were in possession
of that substantial statement,

I put in a request to return
to my original position

at the Major Crime Squad as
Officer in Charge Operations.

I was confident in Lex de Man

and the other members to
finish what needed to be done.

- I first met Lex de
Man and the others

with a view to going through the

enormous amount of material,

to ascertain if
they could charge

any of the sect members

with any offence and
it was in relation to

abuse of the young
people in their care.

And I found it very difficult,

as did the police,

that it was going to
be almost impossible

to have sufficient
evidence to prove

the physical abuse that

these young people
complained of which

I've no doubt was true.

But there was a
lot of dishonesty

in obtaining children.

So we focused on that.

- Anne had years earlier

provided advice to the
New Zealand authorities

said she'd actually given birth

in New Zealand but at the time,

"Sorry, I actually
gave birth to triplets

but I told you I
gave birth to twins,

I forgot to put the
other one there."

And they just accepted it.

And Peter of course, did
all the documentation.

She made me a twin
with Simon for a while

and then when got
birth certificates

and passports from New Zealand

it was said that
were born there.

So two boys and me were made
into triplets from New Zealand.

All of a sudden, changed
nationalities as well.

I thought that was quite
neat, being a triplet.

I wasn't so sure about
being a New Zealander

because by that stage,

one of the Aunties
had started letting us

watch some cricket so,
I had to change sides

from Australia to
New Zealand.

The police had
birth certificates to

prove that each of those
children were born in Victoria,

to people other than Anne
and Bill Hamilton-Byrne.

You don't need a
witness, those documents

spoke for themselves.

I loved the
thrill of the chase.

We knew we were that close.

And we just had to
get Anne and get Bill

back to Australia.

We knew Anne was moving
between England and America.

We established
liaison with Interpol,

New Scotland Yard and the FBI

so that we could track her down.

I received a teletype,

Lex called me and filled
in a lot of the blanks.

This was a mission for him,

and he was determined

to write a very horrible wrong.

Hurleyville and
Sullivan County would be

optimum locations

if someone wanted to be
under the radar for sure.

A lot of the property
in Sullivan County

is owned by religious movements.

You don't have people
living next door to you

for the most part so that gives
you a lot more opportunity

to do whatever you want to do

without being observed.

I got up there early
enough so that I could

go out with the postal
worker who had that route.

In those types of communities,
the postal service

usually knows exactly
what's going on.

My concern was

the two people we were
interested in arresting,

actually live in the house.

The 'home run' would
have been for one of them

to come out and pick up the mail

while I was sitting in the van

but that didn't happen.

Nobody picked up the
mail as I was there.

The Kent constabulary

started doing some
surveillance around Broom Farm

They put
you in the paper.

They say you're false.

We wanted them to know

that we were looking at them,

we were watching them.

Whatever it
is I've gone through,

Whatever it is you'll go through

don't be frightened.
This is your mission.

I remember one night,

Anne made a fundamental
mistake and rang Sarah

and Sarah came to us and said,

"I think she's in
the United States."

Our goal was to take
these two people into custody

with the least possible problem.

We were up there early
on a cold morning.

Early enough to put them

at a disadvantage
almost immediately.

William opened the door,

Anne appeared very quickly.

I kept telling her we have
to move, we have to leave,

let's hurry up.

But she was very, very
concerned about how she looked.

Hilda Kogut
rang and said,

"We've got the bitch" Bang!

And I exploded.

And I remember picking
up chairs in the kitchen

and throwing them
against the walls,

an emotional outburst of tears.

My whole life was wrapped
up in this investigation.

I got a phone
call from Special Agent Kogut

that the two of them
had been arrested

up in the Catskills

and to prepare for
their arrival in court.

- Anne
Hamilton-Byrne and
her husband William,

were arrested at their
home in upstate New York.

- The
Hamilton-Byrnes
are being held in

a state prison.

Police hope to have the pair

extradited to
Melbourne state prison.

They plan to make a bail
application on Monday.

I've
still got a photo that

I cut out at The
Age of her in chains

looking very dishevelled,

which would have
bothered her big time.

I
was devastated when she

was put into jail.

I thought, "How the
hell could you do that?"

It's like putting Queen
Elizabeth into jail.

Their attorneys
made a full throttle approach

that they should be
released on bail,

that they were not a
danger to the community,

that they had health problems.

When they said
she's got a bad heart,

I said, "We'll bring a doctor".

There was no way
known that she was not

going to come back to Australia,

as far as I was concerned.

- While he was still
being held in custody,

one of Bill's
cellmates was murdered

and it frightened
Bill and finally,

Bill put his hand up and
said, "I've had enough."

- Four of us ended going to the

United States to
the extradition.

I looked evil in the eye

that day ...and even today it
affects when I talk about it.

- I'm deeply ashamed
of my grandmother.

The havoc and the cruelty;

she's hurt so many people.

How could I feel any other way?

The mind boggles
at the damage done

and I'm still trying to work out

whether she meant to do it

or whether it just kind of
took on a life of its own.

- God clearly speaks about

there being his power and
then powers from the devil.

When I look at everything
that Anne touched;

you trace suicides,
marriages split up,

kids destroyed, drug addiction,

on and on it goes so I look
at the effect of that power,

and I have to say it is demonic.

To thy last supper,
let me be allowed to stay,

oh son of god. For neither
have I betrayed any

secrets to thine enemies

nor have I given thee
the kiss of Judas.

But like a thief
I pray unto thee.

Oh remember me oh Lord as I
enter into thy glorious kingdom.

Just before
nine o'clock this morning

Victorian police had Anne
and William Hamilton-Byrne

back on Australian soil.

Detectives took the couple

straight to the Melbourne
Magistrates' Court,

for what all thought would
be a brief unopposed...

- Bail wasn't opposed.
- The Hamilton-Byrnes' were

each released with
a $25,000 surety.

Their solicitor says they
will be pleading not guilty.

- There was no
two ways about it,

she and Bill were
going to get bail.

But we wanted to make sure that

they had stringent
reporting conditions

which they did
have. At that point

that was a sense of achievement.

We've got her.

- When she was extradited back

it was all mad chaos.

I mean I loved her
to bits but geez

she was a bloody troublemaker.

What can you do?
They're your family?

And you stick by your family.

Lawyers
for sect leaders

Anne and William Hamilton-Byrne

have challenged the
jurisdiction of the charges

Defence counsel John Winneke
QC said New Zealand courts

must decide the case.

Said New Zealand courts
must decide the case.

- There was a decision made

that there had to be
clarification of the law.

And then we had to wait

in the list to proceed
before the Court of Appeal.

- I think I was 25 or 26

when Anne and Bill
came back to Australia,

and I guess I formed
a little bit of a

adult-type
relationship with them.

I invited Anne and
Bill to my wedding.

I wanted Bill to walk
me down the aisle.

He'd always dreamed about it

and I thought, well, you know,

I can give that to
him as an adult.

I'm sure it confused
a lot of people,

my decision, but the man
that brought me up was Bill

and he was the one that
ultimately got the job.

I don't know what it
was, but I adored him.

We looked alike.

We both had black curly hair

except mine was blonded.

I had blue eyes, you know,

he was my father.

I have two mothers
and three fathers.

My stepfather, my father and
my father I grew up with,

so I differentiate them,
when I talk to people.

My anger was never towards Bill.

It was always towards Anne,

because she was the one
that controlled everybody

and everybody was a
puppet on her string.

I felt sorry for him,

because, you know, he was
an extremely successful man

in his own right.

He was captivated by her charm

just like everybody else was.

- The matter was
three or four months

before the Court of Appeal

because it was really
quite technical.

I appeared on behalf
of the Prosecution

and Patrick Tehan

appeared for them lead
by John Winneke QC.

Clearly the Hamilton-Byrnes

were prepared to
spend a lot of money.

- It all ended up
like a bit of a farce

because she had
such good lawyers.

The law takes it
much more seriously

if there's money or documents
involved than child abuse.

- They were very angry
about the system.

They saw us dressed
in robes and wigs

talking about esoteric
points of law.

It wasn't about what
really happened to them.

- Many people have asked me,

"Why wasn't she charged
with anything else?"

Once you extradite somebody
from from another country,

part of the process is
that you give a commitment

that you won't slap them
with further charges.

You can't, just say, right
now I've got you back on that.

I'm now gonna give
you this charge

and this charge,
and this charge,

because that goes against
the whole agreement

of the extradition.

In the
Hamilton-Byrne sect case,

the full bench of the
Supreme Court has found

the charge of conspiring

to the fraud authorities
in New Zealand

cannot be heard in Victoria.

Mr. Winneke
said the offence was trivial.

He said the
Australian authorities

had made a mountain
out of a molehill

After long legal
battle in the Supreme Court,

one charge was dropped.

My friends,
we are winning through

by the power of the Holy Spirit!

After years of
trying to fight evil,

only to be put in
jail for no reason.

Oh yes, it hurts.

But if we remain steadfast
and know and say,

this is the Lord God's battle,

I will trust him wholly.

- Anne Hamilton-Byrne had
an enormous hold on people,

and it was admiration,
adulation and fear.

It's a little like an
organised crime syndicate.

They would never ever
give evidence against her

or make a statement against her.

Today
sect leaders Anne

and William Hamilton-Byrne
will be sentenced

in the County Court.

They face up to five years
in jail and a $60,000 fine.

- I remember walking
to the County Court..

The feeling that this is it.

This is the Day of Judgement

- I went to court the last day

and she had all the cult
members all around her and all,

you know sort of
glaring and saying

nasty things that us children.

Anne and
Bill Hamilton-Byrne

appeared confident when
they arrived at court.

Their case attracted a
huge media contingent

72 year old Anne and 71
year old Bill Hamilton-Byrne

had pleaded guilty to
making false statements

- Whilst a large part of me

didn't want to see her suffer.

I still wanted
there to be justice

and for there to be some
sort of acknowledgment

that something bad has
happened to us children.

- I recall sitting in the court

and I will remember
before the judgement,

just a sick feeling
in the stomach that

this is it. Thiis will be
the end of the police case.

People were looking at us

were we going to get an outcome

that was going to be
the right outcome?

The founder
of The Family religious sect

and her husband have
been spared jail terms

for faking documents
which claimed

three children were their own.

$5,000 fines were
imposed on the couple

and outside the court...

The
Hamilton-Byrnes escaped

a maximum five year jail
term and $60,000 fine.

They had nothing to
say about the decision

In sentencing.

Justice Jones took into
account the couple's ages

the fact neither
is in good health

and the three months
they've already spent

in an American prison.

- I was angry, that
after all that work,

the system had let us down.

She got a paltry
monetary penalty.

I was wild.

I couldn't show it.

They should have been
going through another door,

they should have been
going through the door

to the cells, not
the door to freedom.

- Well, I'm not going
to stand here and

bewail the inadequacies
of the legal system,

I think that goes without saying

What I would say is,

I'm very glad it's all over and

we can get on with
living our lives.

- They didn't go to jail for

beating us nearly every
single day and starving us.

And she didn't get
anything nothing.

- And we all have
mental scarring.

It doesn't matter

whether we show it and whether
we survive normal life.

We all have suffered,
and we all have

something that we take with us

from the childhood
that we survived,

because that's all we did,

we just survived that.

- There was no justice.

It hurt the kids

and they'd all given statements

and worked so closely
with the Police

to try and get the
community to understand

what had happened to them.

And then we shut the door and
said, "Nothing we can do."

- Was justice ultimately done?

Did she face court

for all the crimes
that we allege,

that we alleged we had
that we knew of? No.

Its goingt be with me
for the rest of my life.

I need a break, I need a break.

The
police investigation

into the Hamilton-Byrne's
group called

"Operation Forest"
lasted four years

and cost more than a
half a million dollars.

11 officers worked on
the case full time,

which included six overseas
trips seeking information.

- When Operation Forest ended,

there was a lot
of criticism about

what we'd achieved or more so

what we hadn't achieved.

We did our best.

We had recommended
a Royal Commission

at the start of it,

but we were knocked back.

Our hands were tied

But we brought her back,

we put her up before
the County Court,

and she said the words
we didn't say the words.

She said the words, we didn't
say the words 'guilty'.

This is Lakshmi,
isn't it Lakshmi?

- She needed things to
love, little things.

The children were
taken off her so

she went for animals.

And well we all know that

animals give unconditional love.

- This idea that you can

bring a group of
children together

from all sorts of backgrounds,

all sorts of different families,

and then ram a type of
ideology down their throat.

I don't think it would
have ever worked,

okay. You can't muck
around with kids

physically, emotionally
or any other way.

- I couldn't believe that

adults didn't know
what was going on.

When we were children,

people around the lake
would hear us screaming.

A couple of
times police did come up.

I remember at least once that
we were interviewed by them.

- The Auntie's were there
during the questioning,

and I do remember one question,

and that was, "Are you
being fed properly?"

I was surviving, I was alive

yeah, sure I'm being
fed properly, you know,

well, how much are
you supposed to have?

I had no idea.

- I would never have dared say

anything at that time to
anybody about what went on.

We were all very
protective of our parents.

They put on a show for
the education department

and actually got it
registered as a school.

The education minister came.

The school room

was dressed up to look
like a real school room.

There were these wonderful
equations on the board

to make us look advanced
and sophisticated.

The people up there

had convinced themselves that

they were doing what
was, in the long run,

good for the children.

Powerful
people didn't really

want this known about.

And even people that left cult,

that knew about it,

there were so terrified

of Anne's retribution, and
they didn't say anything.

I blame
myself that maybe

I could have stopped this many,

many years ago, but I didn't.

Being your mother,

I didn't want to report it or.

I didn't know where
to go, or what to do.

Belting them and locking
them in cupboards

when they're babies
for wetting the bed.

That's just inexcusable.

It's just not something that
a normal human being does.

Had I gone to the
police in the early 70s

how much sorrow
could I have stopped?

How much heartbreak for these

poor little
defenceless children?

- But it wasn't Anne doing it.

Okay she might have been
up here and in that sense,

she has responsibility
as the ruler

and the leader of
the sect, okay.

You gotta understand and be
in control of you disciples.

Unfortunately, she had
people running round

doing shit I believe that
she didn't know about.

Yeah, you can't have your...

if you're not there in
the room with the person

100% of the time, how do
you know what they're doing?

They could to tell you anything?

- No comment.

- Do you intend to
take that course

with any question I put to you?

That you don't wanna comment?

- No comment.

- Well, there are
several allegations

that I'd like to put to
you in a general way.

- After my son, David
was brought back,

I did say to Elizabeth Whitaker,

he was not treated well
or something like that.

And she said, he was the
same as everybody else.

They're all treated the same.

I said that's the problem.

They were not people.

They were numbers.

I said what number was David

was he number
seven or number 15?

No individual mothering.

No, hugging, no anything.

She said no, that
was what Anne wanted,

and that it was good
for the children.

- We had a very, very normal
upbringing as little children.

Was mom and dad with three kids

living in a house in Melbourne.

My mother was never
violent, never abusive.

I never saw any sign
of what was to come.

How my mother got
sucked into such a thing

and demonstrated such

monstrous behaviour later is

as absolute mystery to me.

I've pondered it long and hard

and I really don't understand

how professional
well-educated people

could be sucked in
by such nonsense.

- Intelligence really
has nothing to do

with people's emotional
vulnerability,

and Anne somehow knew that

and Anne was able
to target people

who were very
emotionally vulnerable.

In my case, I didn't
have a lot of mothering.

So I came to adulthood,

searching for a mother figure.

Lots of people are like that.

They have some sort of lack

in their personality, I suppose.

So she presented
herself as this person

who sort of could fulfil
this void in their life.

- My father saw through
it relatively early.

He left in 1970,

He made a conscious
decision to leave the cult,

and to sever all
ties with anybody

that had any connection
with the cult.

That unfortunately included me

so he never had any
more contact with me.

For a long, long time,

I was very bent out
of shape about it.

I'd like to think
I'm over it now.

- There's probably not
a lot of psychiatrists

who have shifted a
whole heap of patients

into a lunatic cult,

and then seen through
it and just up and left.

Personally, I think he
had a moral obligation

to his patients
chose not to fulfil.

To be honest, I
know he's my father,

but he really should
have been reported

to the Medical Board.

You
and Dr Whitaker are

both on record as having members

of the group called
"The Family."

- Um..

- [Reporter How did that relate

to your practise
as psychiatrist?

Were you always able to keep
that barrier between the two?

Did one spill over into
the other and vice versa?

- Well, at times you had

members of that group
who were patients.

And atare times you had patients

who went into yoga classes,

and then meditation classes

and became members
of that group.

And the fact that your
practice had a spiritual bias,

it wasn't used as a
method of recruiting

or anything like that in fact.

But you would
have steered the odd patient

into the direction
of that group.

- I would steer the odd
patient direction of yoga, yes.

Our society
needs to understand

where the instrument
of government failed.

It failed at the hospital end

it failed at the at the
Department of Health end,

it was slow to react at
the Victoria Police end.

- You have to remember this
is the 1970s and early 1980s.

And there was still
a sense of trust

in people of
professional status.

And there was still a sense
of trust in institutions.

- Victoria was different
from most of the other states

in that it had a really strong

non-government welfare sector.

The first legislation
in Victoria is in 1928.

It gives a lot of people

a right to arrange adoptions
including doctors and lawyers.

So you've got a whole
lot of approved agencies

as well as the major hospitals.

So yes, that meant if you
wanted to go shopping,

you could move your way
around and people did.

And then when you get to
the Hamilton-Byrne scenario,

well, here's someone
that's really

manipulating the system.

Even what she's
doing is not illegal.

What she's doing is using
a weakness in the system

to exploit it for
her own purposes.

- In the past year, 18,000

illegitimate babies have
been born in Australia.

One birth in 12,
is illegitimate.

- So you have this big
nursery of crying babies

that had to be fed. For the
hospital, a major crisis.

They've got so many to process,

they're just processing
adoptions over and over again,

That pressure on the hospital to

get it done, get it done quickly

meant that nobody's
questioning the practise.

- The other thing was that
there was no paper trail

in terms of adoption with regard

to Anne and Bill because and
Bill didn't adopt anybody.

They instigated adoptions

with the intention of taking
the children eventually.

The law wasn't up to it.

It wasn't enough.

And neither was
the investigative
power of the police.

- I remember when
Uncle Bill died,

that they embalmed his
body for a period of time

and the body was in Crowther
until the funeral.

I think we're all a
little bit dumbfounded

that Uncle Bill was gone.

I was there at the funeral.

There was a lot of people there

I think Auntie Anne
did hire bodyguards

because it was thought that

she might have been
assassinated going there.

She was always afraid of being

in the public eye.

Uncle Bill had no gravestone

because of the motto
"unseen, unheard, unknown."

When you
leave your body

at the time we call death

the Master steps out

into other and higher worlds.

He proved that death
is only an appearance

an illusion, that
everybody can overcome.

- Everyone has suffered the
most enormous amount of loss.

After my son's suicide,

my method of coping
was just to shut down.

I couldn't feel anything.

And I was just like
that for a long time,

and it's taken me
years of therapy to

just be a sort of open,

or moderately open person.

- I didn't know how to stop
my anger for many, many years.

And then I started
learning about the amygdala

and primitive area of the brain.

If you're abused as a child,

there's a good chance that

that area of your brain
is primed, it's set to a

higher level than most people's.

And you are more
easily triggered.

Now I know the rev-up signals,

so this part behind my ears
starts feeling like pain.

And I might start stuttering.

There's different signals
that make me go 'OK,

I need to get away'.

I have to go for walks
to release cortisol,

very fast walks, just whatever
it takes to calm down.

- Talking about experiences
doesn't heal anything,

to be honest.

All you do is you
open up what happened

and speak through it.

The heart's still wounded,

the lack of love's still there.

I had made a decision
to get to know God.

I was praying and I
remember having a vision.

I'm standing on the
edge of a cliff.

It's completely black,

I have to jump into the unknown.

I jump and I get caught
by a man in white robes,

long beard, long hair, Jesus

He's holding my hand walking
me out on a moonscape.

And immediately I'm
back at Uptop in this

experience with all of the fear.

Jesus picked me up, put
my head against his chest

and said "I never
meant it to be."

I guess many a question would be

why did God let
these things happen?

But he's rescued me

he's pulled me out.

And that was a major
turning point for me.

- One of the ways
I tried to obviate

the effects of my childhood was

to dedicate my life
to helping others.

I became a doctor and I spent

a lot of time overseas,

going to remote places
and war zones and helping

volunteering, and doing
all sorts of things.

Were the
children ever hit?

- Of course they weren't.

- Because...
- They were not beaten.

- Never?
- Never.

You just have to be pretty good

to see through that bullshit.

It's absolute bullshit.

It's lies.

All the children made
all of this up did they?

- Could be, and they
were paid for it.

- They were paid for it.

- I'm asking you that.

- You were paid a lot of money.

We weren't
paid any money.

- You were paid a lot of money.

- Michael, you're
living in a fantasy.

- No I'm not.

- You're living a lie.

- I'm not living
a lie, Michael..

Your entire life is
a network of lies

As far as I'm concerned you
are living a lie

- Because your entire
life is a network of lies.

- You're suffering for it.

- What I've suffered
in this life

is because of what
happened up there.

.. had a lot of pain.

- As long as you blame
others you're nowhere.

Anne
Hamilton-Byrne's brain

has been slowly eaten
away by dementia.

She now spends her days
in this aged care facility

and has completely lost
touch with reality.

That's the opportunity her
former followers needed

to start carving
up and selling off

her once great
real estate empire.

- It was so hypocritical and
the disciples that attacked

me and anyone else that
they thought betrayed her.

They were so self
righteous and angry

and they're just
so hypocritical.

Really it wasn't to
do with religion,

It was to do with power,
money and control.

- Loyalty is huge in Auntie
Anne and Uncle Bill's mind.

Auntie Anne's never been
able to trust many people.

Anybody who left the family,

don't ever come back.

'Life For All Creatures' was
set up over a decade ago.

Auntie Anne set up
that organisation to

put all her assets
from Hamilton-Byrne

into Life For All Creatures,

so that when she does die,

none of the kids
can get any money.

- I think when she dies,

what will be interesting is

the fighting over the money
between the sect members.

Because this has always
been about money.

I mean, to me, that's been

the real driving motive
has been money and power.

- It still lives
with me till today.

I still get inquiries
from mothers who

gave up their children for
adoption in the late 70s.

And they track me down
and they ask, you know,

"Was one of the
children one of mine?"

And you can't say no.

Even though I'm no longer
in the police force.

You do what you can to help.

- To you, the mothers who
were betrayed by a system

that gave you no choice and
subjected you to manipulation,

mistreatment and
malpractice, we apologise.

We say sorry to you, the mothers

who were forced to
endure the coercion

and brutality of practices
that were unethical,

dishonest, and in
many cases illegal.

For the loss, the grief,
the disempowerment,

the stigmatisation and
the guilt, we say sorry,

To each of you who were
adopted or removed,

who were led to believe your
mother had rejected you,

we say sorry.

We acknowledge that many
of you still experience

a constant struggle
with identity,

uncertainty and loss

and feel a persistent tension

between loyalty to one family
and yearning for another.

We recognise that
the consequences
continue to resonate

through many, many lives.

- When my kids were born,

I just looked at them

and I couldn't understand
how a person could

Yeah, I just couldn't
understand how a person could

abandon their kids.

I guess we've all
got a choice in life,

whether we replay the same
type that our parents had.

My parents pretty much chose
to abandon their family

I was determined not to do that.

- I was unable to hold
my first baby by myself,

and midwives were getting
a little bit anxious.

"Come on, you need to be
able to hold your baby."

And I said, "Yes I know, I
know that intellectually,

but I'm trying to get
my head around it.

The first two or three
weeks were so arduous.

So incredibly difficult.

But I finally managed
to call my dad and say,

"I've finally connected,

we have finally connected.

- It was very
difficult trying to

work out how to be a parent.

I do remember one
time going well

I can't hit you across the room,

I can't deny your food for days,

how do I get you
to do what I want.

What do people do?

I started explaining
when Kaia was six

that her mommy had been
hurt by some bad people

I put it that simply.

We bumbled along.
I explained a lot,

I processed a lot with her.

I knew I'd never

do what had been done to me.

I did stop that chain of abuse.

Here's my mom
with her grandkids

- Well Ben although it
was all those years ago,

It's no different, I can't
believe it, coming back here.

- I have a relationship
with my mother that

is to the level of
honesty that she wants

and it's very painful for her.

She said, "Look the
decisions I made at the time

were the best ones I had
with the information,

I would not make them again."

That's probably as close as

we're ever going to
get to her saying

"I stuffed up and I'm sorry."

My kids, at least
should have the option

of having a grandmother.

Everyone deserves the
chance of redemption.

When you forgive someone,
you set yourself free,

and you set them free.

- Mom retired nursing
at 80 years of age,

she was doing Night Duty to
pay this house off for me.

So I cared for her
until she died.

When mom died, things changed.

I have no loyalty now
to anyone in The Family.

I'm so nervous about it all

petrified as well.

But excited beyond belief.

I've got something to live for.

I've got family and they
all want to know me.

Hello Adam.. How are you?

Really..

Nervous?

- Yeah

I could
hardly speak myself today

- Hello I'm Wendy your
definitely family,
you look like us

- Do you want to
see some photos?

Your mother.

- And there she
is pushing a pram.

Somebody's kid in the pram.

- Every baby wants his mom and

I never had a proper mom.

The outpouring of love
is quite overwhelming.

I guess I've never had
that level of love before

from strangers.

And in reality,
they are strangers

that are just loving
me for who I am

and they don't
know much about me.

And I don't know
much about them,

but there's a bond,

deeper than I've ever
really experienced before.

So much
of the Hamilton-Byrne saga

is shrouded in mystery.

So I thought we try and
separate rumour from fact,

truth from fiction.

How many are your
natural children?

Altogether
was eight I think,

they were eight or nine

You got eight this morning
when we were counting them out

weren't we?

It was almost like

cheaper by the dozen, you know,

We never told
them they weren't ours.

I
don't know where

you put the blame for this but

I'd do
it all over again.

Well, question really was,

it hasn't worked has it?

Your family has
dissipated, hasn't it?

Yes, but why?

Well, that's what I
was gonna ask you, why?

And who do you blame?

I can't blame anybody.

I wouldn't blame anybody.

We don't understand.

I don't understand.

It was love.

Just love

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