Cult’s sprawling multimillion-dollar property empire revealed

A secretive cult has amassed a sprawling multimillion-dollar real estate empire, with one prime property in the heart of Sydney worth $3m today. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

A secretive cult formerly known as the Jesus People of North Queensland has amassed a sprawling multimillion-dollar real estate empire, with individual properties soaring in value by as much as 7400 per cent.

The group, now called the Anglican Catholic Mission Community, directly owns seven properties stretching from Glenwood in South East Queensland to Cooktown in the state’s far north.

Several other properties are listed on property records as being owned by current or former cult leaders who have been embroiled in a bitter battle for control of the fundamentalist religious group.

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They include an inner Sydney warehouse at Redfern – bought more than 30 years ago for just $40,000, which is now estimated to be worth as much as $3m.

ACMC has made massive capital gains on its properties after buying most of them years and even decades ago.

They include the cult’s main Queensland commune at Watsonville, outside Herberton on the Atherton Tableland.

Watsonville commune of the ACMC. Picture: Brian Cassey

The compound straddles two sides of remote Walsh River Rd, about 15km from Herberton.

On one side, of Walsh River Rd, is a 31.8ha property acquired by registered charity ACMC Property Holdings Ltd in 1987 for an undisclosed price.

On the other side, of Walsh River Rd, is a 16ha property listed as being bought by cult leader Asaph Rau-El Bar-Roka for $185,000 in 2019.

The Redfern warehouse bought for $40,000 and now worth about $3m

Bar-Roka became the “reshan” or “Superior General” of the ACMC in 2018 after overthrowing Nathanael Landy-Ariel, son of cult founder Daniel Landy-Ariel.

The Bar-Roka property has a collection of buildings including a large two-storey house and facilities including a swimming pool and basketball court.

The large ACMC-owned property, which backs on to Walsh River, has buildings including a low-set brick home and a large mechanical workshop which is open to the public.

It is one of a number of businesses from which the sect derives income.

Veteran local real estate agent John Fournier estimated both properties would be worth up to a combined $1m.

“Prices have gone up and down in Watsonville but there’s good demand for properties on the river,” he said.

Mr Fournier revealed he and his family had their vehicles serviced at the ACMC’s mechanical workshop at Watsonville “and they do a good job at a reasonable price”.

The ACMC also owns two blocks of land in the heart of Cape York tourist haven Cooktown and an acreage property at nearby Hope Vale, bought for a combined $123,000 in 1998 and now estimated to be worth $400,000.

Another long-held ACMC property is located in the idyllic coastal community of East Trinity near Cairns.

That house, on Pine Creek-Yarrabah Rd, with an old corrugated-iron bus stop out the front painted with “Jesus Loves You”, was bought by the cult in 1988 for $55,000 and is now worth about $300,000.

Asaph Bar-Roka

The ACMC also owns or controls neighbouring properties on Arborfive Rd, at Glenwood, north of Gympie.

The properties, one housing another ACMC business, Village Swim and Gym, were bought for a combined $70,000, but local agent Pete Angle, of One Agency Gympie, estimated they would now be worth about $500,000 each.

Mr Angle said he had just negotiated the sale of a property across the road from the ACMC holdings for $540,000.

“Glenwood is one of the cheaper suburbs in the area and has always been a price leader, but it’s also seen good price growth in recent years,” he said.

One of the Glenwood properties is listed as being owned by a member of the Landy-Ariel clan, which was forced to cede control of disputed Queensland real estate to the ACMC in a 2020 Supreme Court judgment after Asaph Bar-Roka launched legal action.

The Landy-Ariel family also is listed as owning two other North Queensland properties – one at Silver Valley in the Tablelands and another on Prince of Wales Island, on the tip of Cape York Peninsula.

Bought for just $5000 in 1987, the island property is on the same road where properties have sold for as much as $450,000 in recent years.

As well as the Redfern warehouse, the Landy-Ariels are listed as owning six other NSW properties, including another major ACMC commune at Parkes in the state’s central west.

One of two Parkes properties totalling almost 100ha was bought for just $1000 in 1994, with properties along the same road selling for as much as $546,000 in recent years.

The Landy-Ariels also own a house at Hebersham, in western Sydney estimated to be worth up to $883,000.

Daniel Landy-Ariel with followers in the 1980s, and scenes from the properties