‘Rescuing the Family’ was birthed from a thirty-year journey Ben’s life has taken since being rescued at 15 by the police on August 14 1987 from Australia’s most notorious cult called ‘The Family’. Its followers believed the leaders claim that she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Ben grew up believing Anne Hamilton-Byrne was his mother.
The Family was originally written about in a book ‘Unseen, Unknown and Unheard’ published in 1995 by Sarah Moore formerly known as Sarah Hamilton-Byrne. A ninety-eight-minute documentary called ‘The Family’ and a book of the same name, released in February 2017, has further dealt with the history, ideology and ongoing impact of The Family. In March 2019 a follow up ABC funded three hour series ‘The Cult of the Family’ goes into further detail with more interviews that the documentary couldn’t cover.
Over the years, Ben’s has told his story throughout Asia Pacific and been interviewed by radio and print media from Australia and places as far away as Chile.
Through ‘Rescuing the Family’ Ben seeks to share lessons he’s learnt on how to overcome trauma from his childhood experiences and successfully build a family by navigating through the dangerous ideologies and widely espoused methods on bringing up children that negatively impact families and therefore societies.
Ben is the husband of Rajes and father of two well-adjusted children that continue to successfully navigate life.
After 23 years in Ballarat – Victoria he moved to Perth where he continues to work as a project manager as part of his career with IBM that has spanned over 20 years. His abiding relationship with the real Jesus Christ underpins his successful raising of a family and serving the community through membership at the Beechboro Potters House Christian Fellowship.
