Chris Johnston

The apocalyptic group The Family and their guru, Anne Hamilton-Byrne, captured international headlines throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Hamilton-Byrne, who some followers believed was Jesus Christ, was glamorous and charismatic—and, many allege, very dangerous. She acquired children—some through adoption and some born to cult members—and raised them as her own, bleaching their hair blonde to make them look like siblings....

On New Year’s Eve 1991, Richie McNeill, under the banner of his newly founded Hardware brand, threw his first rave party at the Mercantile Rowing Club on the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne’s CBD. A fundraiser for his dad's charity, which helped young kids throughout Victoria at a time when state funding for youth projects was in short...