Anne Hamilton-Byrne: Olinda homestead with links to The Family cult for sale

An Olinda property with connections to Australia’s most notorious cult leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne is on the market but could the sale be stopped?

The property at 1445 Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd Olinda, where cult leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne is believed to have once lived, is for sale.

An Olinda homestead, once home to Australia’s most notorious cult leader, is on the market

The founder of The Family cult, Anne Hamilton-Byrne, is believed to have once lived at the 12-bedroom property at 1445 Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd, which is listed for sale for $1.15 – $1.25m.

Several neighbours, who did not want to be named, confirmed to Leader the property had ties to The Family cult.

But there could be a legal roadblock in place, with a caveat placed on the sale of the property.

The house vendors are listed as Life For All Creatures, of which Ms Hamilton-Byrne was believed at one stage to be a director.

According to a Supreme Court notice, there is class action which applies to: “ … children of Anne Hamilton-Byrne who suffered personal injury

as a result of cruel and inhumane treatment by Anne Hamilton-Byrne and/or her

servants or agents during the period from 1968 to 1987.”

The house is believed to be “under contract” but the sale is yet to be finalised.

Lyn Field, who works in a nearby business, said she used to see people lining up to enter the property, and had once seen Hamilton-Byrne in the area, wearing netting over her face.

The rear of the property.

The Herald Sun previously reported the cult stole children through adoption scams and held them captive at a house at Lake Eildon, north east of Melbourne, in the 1970s and 1980s. The cult also had property at Ferny Creek and Olinda.

Hamilton-Byrne initiated at least 28 children into the cult, stealing some and getting others by brainwashing adult sect members. The children were dressed in identical outfits and had their hair bleached, and claim they were starved, beaten and given drugs including LSD.

Hamilton-Byrne, 97, died while in palliative care in a nursing home in Wantirna South in 2019.

Disturbing details of life inside the infamous Australian doomsday cult The Family were laid bare by survivors in a book in 2017.

The notorious religious sect, where leader Hamilton-Byrne proclaimed she was the female reincarnation of Jesus Christ, preached a combination of Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity.

Under the influence of LSD, Hamilton-Byrne claimed she had a vision to collect children and raise them as her family to protect them from the coming global apocalypse.

Children from Anne Hamilton-Byrne's cult 'The Family'.

According to the listing, the property was set on about 0.8ha of “lush acres of predominantly flat grounds dotted with European classics such as pines, elms, weeping cherry, fir, oak, beech and pine trees – this is a lifestyle or investment opportunity of grand proportions that will bring joy to future generations”.

Anne Hamilton-Byrne, 'The Family' leader with children on the banks of Lake Eildon.

“The breathtaking grounds flowing over 8645sq m are home to a rambling original homestead circa 1930s with traces of the bygone era still lingering, including the perfectly flat lawn at the rear that was once a tennis court.

“One of the original guesthouses of the area operating as a restaurant and accommodation business “back in the day”, the residence is ripe to renovate or rebuild (STCA).

“The location is rich in lifestyle amenities and will bring a lifetime of joy to growing families.”