Podcast review: Young family drawn into religious cult in series Inside The Tribe

A young family find themselves at a loose end and are seduced by a cult in the Blue Mountains that takes their money and freedom.

An aerial view of the Twelve Tribes property. Picture: Channel 9 - A Current Affair

Young parents Mark and Rose return to Australia from Europe with a couple of kids and some dreams but find themselves adrift in Sydney.

They meet a woman with long flowing hair who gives them a pamphlet entitled the Brotherhood of Man that talks about John Lennon and the renouncing of worldly possessions.

Soon the couple are visiting a communal farm near Picton on the fringes of Sydney’s southwest and meeting members of religious group the Twelve Tribes.

Mark and Rose find a loving community with dancing, music and freshly baked bread. Sounds nice doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to live in loving harmony with their fellow man. All you need to do is accept Jesus into your heart and renounce your worldly possessions. Easy enough. And part with your superannuation – there’s no need for retirement income when you can bank on salvation.

How do you feel about working unpaid for up to 15 hours a day? It’s for the greater good, so suck it up. Television, magazines and cinema? It’s better if you pretend they don’t exist.

Need a doctor? Not allowed, eat some herbs and repent. If people, including children, die because they can’t go to hospital, well, it’s the will of god.

How Mark and Rose were hoodwinked into drinking the Kool-Aid of cult the Twelve Tribes is examined in podcast Inside The Tribe by journalist Tim Elliott and Sydney production company Diamantina Media.

The podcast was released in 2022 but has just passed more than one million downloads, which is a pretty exciting feat for a local outfit.

It’s remarkable how quickly Mark and Rose went from existentially lost to indoctrinated. They’re a young family at a market wanting more meaning in their lives and then bam, they’re baptised with new names before episode one hits the 17-minute mark.

Could anyone somewhat adrift be so easily pulled into a closed religious sect? The way Mark describes their early visits honestly sounds nice. “We would come back every weekend. We thought hey this is a cool community, you know people living together growing organic vegies, baking organic bread, having beautiful cafes,” he says.

Cracks quickly emerge in the couple’s idealism but there are not enough doubts to stop them joining, selling or discarding their possessions in the process.

Inside the Tribe was released in 2022 but has just passed more than one million downloads.

A cult elder assists new members in conducting a stocktake of their life. Furniture? You can take it to the farm. Leather jackets? In the bin. Family car? Too sporty, sell it. In the commune people sleep in barns, outbuildings, an old bus and some tents. Men work in the fields while women cook, clean and take care of babies.

Then comes the ceremonial screaming, the strict discipline of children and prohibition of contraception. Pregnant women give birth onsite because they’re forbidden from going to hospital.

Mark and Rose are forced to confess their sins and soon the whole group knows and judges them for having premarital sex, motorbike riding and smoking marijuana.

Inside the Tribe is a compelling look inside a cloistered group that currently runs the Yellow Deli cafe in Katoomba, a town in Sydney’s Blue Mountains.

In the queue

Blue Mountains Tourism – All about the Blue Mountains.

Sounds like a Cult – When does a movement become a cult? We’re looking at you Gwyneth Paltrow.

Let’s talk about sects – With a good title, this podcast dissects cults and religious extremism