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New Haven Hosptial
Group begins operations in a private psychiatric hospital owned by Family member Marion Villimek. Patients are recruited in the hospital and many Family members and patients are administered LSD under orders of John Mackay and Howard Whitaker; two Family psychiatrists. Sometime around the late 1960's, an original Family member is given LSD, electroshock therapy (EST), and two lobotomies. -
Beginning
Anne Hamilton-Byrne leads a religious and philosophical discussion group at Santiniketan in Melbourne, Australia. Notable to mention that this is the home of a parapsychologist named Raynor Johnson, who helps recruit people -
Santiniketan Lodge creation
Group purchases adjourning land in what they call Santiniketan Park and builds the "Santiniketan Lodge." Many group members were middle-class professionals, who were recruited through Hamilton-Byrne's Hatha yoga classes -
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Illegal child adoption
Hamilton-Byrne acquires 14 infants and young children. Some are biological children of Family members, while others are illegally adopted via forged birth certificates and illegal adoptions handled by Family lawyers, doctors, and social workers. All children live in a pace called the Kai Lama property, are made to have the Hamilton-Byrne surname, and forced to look identical (dyed blond hair and matching clothes). None of the children are given access to the outside world. -
Child abuses and punishments
Every child was told that Hamilton-Byrne was their mother and knew of everyone else as heir aunt or uncle. Aside from no knowledge of the outside world, the children were given starvation diets and frequent unprovoked beatings. The children were given frequent doses of psychiatric drugs and, once reaching puberty, LSD doses in an "initiation process." -
Inquest about patient death
An inquest is made to New Haven Hospital about a patient that may have died due to deep sleep therapy. No evidence was found to support the claim. -
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Siddha Yoga
Hamilton-Byrne forms a connection to the Siddha Yoga movement and brings some of the children to stay with Muktananda (Siddha Yoga leader) at his ashram at South Fallsburg, New York, United States The Family would get private audiences with Muktananda once a week. Muktananda once asks the children if they'd like to stay with him. Every child says yes and Hamilton-Byrne has them punished for "disloyallty" -
Meeting locations are updated
Meetings begin taking place in one of three places: Santiniketan Lodge, Crowther House (Olinda), or White Lodge (another property in the area). Police estimate that Hamilton-Byrne's fortune is around $50 mil. -
Hamilton-Byrne and her husband flee Australia
Hamilton-Byrne and her husband William flee Australia after the raid for 6 years. They are "hunted" by the US, UK, and Australia. -
Defectors from Siddha Yoga to The Family
Hamilton-Byrne creates trouble in the South Fallsburg ashram and some of Muktananda's devotees defect to The Family -
Sarah Hamilton-Byrne is expelled, Legal action
Former adoptee Sarah Hamilton-Byrne is expelled for arguing and rebellious behavior. She becomes a key figure in aiding the police and private investigators in shutting down The Family -
Police raid at Kai Lama
With the help of Sarah, a police raid occurs at Kai Lama and all children are taken out of Hamilton-Byrnes custody. Sarah later goes on to study medicine, discover the truth of her adoption, and find her birth mother. -
New Haven Hospital officially shuts down
New haven hospital shuts down and ceases all operations The hospital later reopens as a nursing home with no connection to previous owners -
Hamilton-Byrne's arrest
Hamilton-Byrne and her husband are arrested by the FBI in New York and brought to Australia to be tried in court. Both plead guilty and harsher sentences are dropped but both must pay a fine of $5,000 each. Whitaker's conspiracy charges are dropped but she is later arrested for falsely obtaining funds of around $23,000 between 1983 and 1987. -
Death of Hamilton-Byrne's husband
In Hamilton-Byrne's only public appearance after conviction, she attends the funeral of her husband -
Litigations
Hamilton-Byrne is sued twice. Once is by her granddaughter, Rebecca Cook-Hamilton, for psychological abuses by Hamilton-Byrne and her followers. The other is by former Family member, Cynthia Chan, for never getting the property she paid for. -
Death of Sarah Hamilton-Byrne
Sarah Hamilton-Byrne dies at 46 -
Companion book to documentary published
A companion book on the sect is later published by Chris Johnston and Jones and published by Scribe. -
Death of Anne Hamilton-Byrne
Anne Hamilton-Byrne dies at 97 -
Three episode mini-series is published
Rosie Jones later publishes a three episode mini series on the sect -
Documentary and media coverage
A documentary on the sect entitled The Family was released at the Melbourne International Film Festival produced by Anna Grieve and written, directed, and co-produced by Rosie Jones. -
Thriller book is published, inspired by the Family
The 2019 novel In the Clearing by J. P. Pomare is a fictionalised account heavily based on The Family. It was turned into a 2023 TV series, The Clearing