Survivor of The Family Ben Shenton to speak at Toowoomba Potter’s House

In a city of 100 churches with its own history of fundamentalists beliefs, a cult survivor is a guest speaker at a church which itself has been accused of being “cultish”.

Children of the cult were given matching hairstyles and led to believe Hamilton-Byrne was their birth mother.

A new church on the block is hosting a series of events this weekend featuring Ben Shenton, a survivor from one of Australia’s most notorious cults The Family.

Pastor Abraham Mbemap and his family moved to Toowoomba two years ago to start the Potter’s House Church in Toowoomba, one church of more than 3000 around the world which describes itself as a bible-based, spirit-filled pentecostal church.

The Potter’s House Church was established in the United States in 1970 by Wayman Mitchell, and in the last couple of years has come under its own scrutiny as a “cult”, following investigations into a tragic truck crash in Sydney in 2020 which took the lives of four police.

Mr Shenton, now a member of the Potter’s House Church, is set to speak this weekend on his experience of coming to grips with his childhood in The Family, a cult which ran between the 1960s – 1980s in Victoria.

Ben Shenton, survivor of The Family cult, is speaking in Toowoomba on Saturday, June 15, 2024.

Children of the cult were given matching hairstyles and led to believe Hamilton-Byrne was their birth mother.

Mr Shenton was raised as one of 28 children by Anne Hamilton-Bryne, who claimed to be the female reincarnation of Jesus Christ and believed her purpose in life was to raise children and protect them from the apocalypse.

He was abandoned and left with the cult by his parents as a baby and was rescued when police raided the cult’s property in Lake Eildon when he was 15 years old in 1987.

He is set to share his story this Saturday in Toowoomba about grappling with depression and suicide due to a childhood beleaguered with torture, physical and emotional abuse, beatings and LSD drug abuse.

“Using a multimedia presentation and clips from life in the cult he covers the current cultural wars, their historical roots, drawing from his life in ‘The Family’ he details the impact of ideas have on families and society of what happens when people get trapped in communities where dangerous ideologies are taught and enforced with bullying and intimidation,” a press release from the Toowoomba Potter’s Church said.

Children of the cult were given matching hairstyles and led to believe Hamilton-Byrne was their birth mother.

“He relates to modern society how these practices are used in the cultural wars.”

Toowoomba is home to more than 100 churches boasting a variety of denominations, with 58.6 per cent of the population identifying as Christian, according to the 2021 Australian census.

It has historically been home to a number of fundamentalist and charismatic religious groups, such as Logos, which between the 1970-1980s used mentoring relationships to emotionally and financially control members.

Logos broke up in 1990, when it was publicly revealed the leader, Howard Carter was having extramarital affairs.

More recently in 2022, twelve adult members of a Toowoomba fundamentalist religious group known as “The Saints” were charged with the murder of eight-year-old diabetic girl Elizabeth Struhs, after her lifesaving insulin was stopped.

Police allege the death of the girl was due to the belief that God would heal the sick, and is currently before Brisbane Supreme Court. 

As to ensuring religious communities have checks and balances in place, Potter’s House Pastor Abraham Mbemap said it was important for leaders to have “full accountability” to true-Christianity and make sure the teachings line up with what the Bible says.