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Survivors of a notorious cult dubbed 'The Family' have revealed the harrowing story behind their LSD-crazed leader and the systematic abuse they endured.

The group - also called the Great White Brotherhood - was started by glamorous yoga teacher Anne Hamilton-Byrne in the mid 1960s.

Under the influence of psychedelic drug LSD, Hamilton-Byrne had a vision that she had to collect children because one day World War III would cause most of the human race to perish.

A secluded school, referred to as 'Uptop' and based at Kai Lama, a rural property on Lake Eildon, in Victoria, Australia, became home to at least 14 of Anne's chosen children .

Along with her enforcers, the fearsome 'Aunties', Hamilton-Byrne raised the youngsters, who were either adopted or given to the cult, as her own, bleaching their hair blonde and cutting it into identical bobs.

The children, who were taught to regard Hamilton-Byrne as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, were all given her surname and told to behave as siblings.

Hiring wealthy professionals to join The Family - including doctors, lawyers, nurses, architects and scientists - the cult was surrounded by rumours of LSD use, child abuse, and strange spiritual rituals.

Now a book, The Family, has delved into its history, revealing for the first time, in full, the strange and shocking story of one of the most bizarre cults in modern times.

Documentarian Rosie Jones and journalist Chris Johnston have collected testimonies from former followers, associates and detectives surrounding the sect.

"The monotony would suddenly be broken by wild outbursts of punishment and violent anger," an extract from the book reads. "The children never knew exactly how to escape punishment because the rules changed all the time.

"They were not allowed to say they were unhappy. The children became hyper-vigilant, traumatised, anxious: scared of being punished but not sure how to prevent it.

"Compliance and silence became important to them, to save themselves. They learned to be helpless, while all the adults had absolute power."

Children who grew up in the strange cult were interviewed for both the book and a sister documentary of the same name, which premiered at Melbourne International Film Festival last year.

They opened up about forced drug-use and the sexual assault of children.

In 1987, police swooped on The Family’s lakeside compound and rescued children who claimed they were part of their leader's "future master race".

The group had fallen largely under the radar until a former member, Sarah, went to the police with her tale of emotional and physical abuse.

According to reports, the children were denied almost all access to the outside world and were often subjected to a discipline that included severe beatings and starvation diets.

"Workmen came one year in the late 1970s to fix electricity lines," another extract reads. "They needed two weeks. The children were told they should talk to the workmen but act 'retarded', to make them think it was a special school.

"'We were taught how to roll our heads, put our heads on one side, talk nonsense, garbled noises, and act uncoordinated,' said one former Uptop child."

The children were frequently dosed with psychiatric drugs, such as diazepam, and on reaching adolescence they were compelled to undergo an initiation involving LSD.

Survivors say while under the influence of the drug, they would be left in a dark room, alone, apart from visits by Hamilton-Byrne or one of the psychiatrists from the group.

Today, the elderly Anne lives in a nursing home in Australia.

She has an estate estimated to be worth millions, with only one minor criminal conviction to her name, and remains one of very few female cult leaders in history.