The Family (Australian New Age group)

The Family, also known as the Santiniketan Park Association or the Great White Brotherhood, was an Australian New Age group formed in the mid-1960s under the leadership of Anne Hamilton-Byrne (born Evelyn Grace Victoria Edwards; 30 December 1921 – 13 June 2019). The group taught a mixture of Western and Eastern religious doctrines, with Hamilton-Byrne claiming to have been a reincarnation of Jesus. It has widely been described as a cult.

The group became the centre of controversy when its compound in Olinda, Victoria, was raided by police on 14 August 1987 amid allegations of child abuse. All children were removed from the premises, and were discovered to have been adopted through illegal means. Hamilton-Byrne and her husband were eventually arrested in 1993 and charged with conspiracy to defraud and to commit perjury in relation to the adoption scams, but those charges were eventually dropped. She pleaded guilty to the remaining charge of making a false declaration and was fined $5,000.

The Family taught an eclectic mixture of Christianity and Hinduism with other Eastern and Western religions, on the principle that spiritual truths are universal. Children raised in the group studied the major scriptures of these religions as well as the works of gurus including Sri Chinmoy, Meher Baba, and Rajneesh. One adopted daughter, Sarah Hamilton-Byrne, later described the group's beliefs as a "hotch-potch" of Christianity and Eastern mysticism.