The Family Cult: Developing A Master Race
Public DomainOne of the few female cult leaders, Anne Hamilton-Byrne adopted at least 28 children to be part of a “master race.”
The tragic truth is that famous cults commonly prey on children. One of the most egregious offenders was The Family in Victoria, Australia, which illegally adopted at least 28 children, bleached their hair to make them all look alike, and drugged them with exorbitant amounts of LSD.
Founded in the 1960s by yoga teacher Anne Hamilton-Byrne, The Family aimed to create a “master race” through their secret sect. One of the world’s few female cult leaders, Hamilton-Byrne was convinced that she was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
The Family’s harrowing adoption practices began in the 1960s. Hamilton-Byrne allegedly brainwashed unwed mothers into handing over their kids, claimed other cult members’ kids were her own, and even stole kids out of hospitals. A doomsday cult by design, The Family taught these children that the end of the world was near — and that they would take over the world after it ended.
Adam Lancaster was one of those kids adopted by Hamilton-Byrne. Now nearly 50 years old, he still remembers the 22 years he spent with The Family — and his late abuser whom he knew as “auntie.”
“While she was on the planet, we were never going to get any closure,” he said. “There is a bit of grief. It still hasn’t hit me. It’s brought a lot of emotions up.”
Lancaster’s potential Stockholm syndrome is starkly emblematic of how many famous cults indoctrinate their followers. For him, there was never an alternative — as he’d been raised to believe The Family’s practices were not only normal but for his own good.
Lancaster grew up believing that another member, Elizabeth Whitaker, was his biological mother. It was only in 1987, when two escaped children alerted police of the cult’s activities, that he realized his adoption had been nothing but a sham.
Authorities uncovered Hamilton-Byrne’s illegal adoption and drugging of children spanning from the early 1970s to the late 1980s. They also discovered that the kids had endured vicious beatings, starvation, and emotional torture at her hands.
“I’d describe her as a crystal bullet,” said Lancaster. “She was open and loving but if you crossed her or did something wrong she was deadly.”
So powerful was the indoctrination that Lancaster rejected an offer to be the ward of the state at age 17 — choosing instead to remain under Hamilton-Byrne’s care. When he finally left The Family in his early 20s, Lancaster was suffering from countless substance abuse issues.
Adam LancasterAdam Lancaster (center) with Anne Hamilton-Byrne (right).
“I ended up getting on the drugs as basically a timeout from the thoughts in my head,” he said. “I think I had a strong constitution from all the drugs [I took] as a toddler, they were pumping drugs into us.”
Hamilton-Byrne had thoroughly convinced her 500-plus followers that she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ while perpetuating lies about a looming apocalypse. She said it was her duty to harvest a healthy batch of children — but authorities uncovering her cult in 1987 thought otherwise.
Ultimately, six children were taken into protective custody, but not a single adult was arrested. In fact, the police actually allowed the adults to leave the space as they investigated the compound. As for Hamilton-Byrne, she was out of town at the time of the raid.
For all her crimes, Hamilton-Byrne never spent any time in prison and the only received a $5,000 fine for falsifying papers for three children. Hamilton-Byrne died in her late 90s after battling dementia. While she ruined Lancaster’s life, he still visited her in the care home before she died.
“Karma had already started with her,” he said. “She would never have wanted to be in the state she was in, in that nursing home. She’s been reaping karma for the last 12 years… It’s very unfair, she got away with it in her own mind. I don’t think she’ll be going to the Almighty.”
