Kenja Communication

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Ken Dyers passed away 10 years ago as of 2017, but the organisation that he spearheaded with his partner Jan Hamilton lives on. In spite of a few parallels, this Australian organisation, called Kenja, has been listed as a suppressive group by the Church of Scientology.

Jan claims that Kenja has faced decades of persecution by those who want to bring them down, including a member of parliament, and charges levied at the organisation include brainwashing, exacerbation of psychological illnesses with dire consequences, alienation from family and friends, and sexual abuse.

CW: references to manipulative behaviours, sexual assault including of minors, and suicide. Please consider whether you would like to listen on this basis. Content is not suitable for children.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, you can find support or donate to Cult Information and Family Support if you’re in Australia (via www.cifs.org.au), and you can find resources outside of Australia with the International Cultic Studies Association (via www.icsahome.com).

If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention website at www.iasp.info.

EPISODE LINKS

• Kenja Concert website — Includes Jan Hamilton early biography timeline
• Kenja Communication website
• Kenja Lecture website
• Guilty Until Proven Innocent — A Kenja Communication "theatre documentary" production: "The incredible story of the 15 year-long attack on the reputation of Ken Dyers – in an attempt to destroy Kenja Communication, the organisation he co-founded – which ultimately led to his death at age 85."
• Scientology Suppressive Persons and Suppressive Groups List — Circulated on 25 July 1992, includes Kenja AKA Kenja Personal Ability Centre and Personal Evolvement Centre
• Ken Dyers: Tributes and accusations — Sydney Morning Herald, 4 August 2007
• Handbook of Scientology — Edited by James R. Lewis, Brill, 10 January 2017 – chapter "Squirrels" and Unauthorized Uses of Scientology: Werner Erhard and est, Ken Dyers and Kenja, and Harvey Jackins and Re-Evaluation Counselling by Carole M. Cusack
• Kenja Facebook page — Image of the 10th annual full page ad Kenja placed in Fairfax Media publications for the anniversary of Ken Dyers' death
• Ken Dyers YouTube channel
• Beyond Our Ken — Documentary directed by Luke Walker and Melissa Maclean, Scribble Films 2007
• Beyond Our Ken — Documentary film iTunes link
• Kenneth Dyers Court Martial – 24 January 1944 — National Archives of Australia
• Kenneth Dyers Court Martial – 4 July 1944 — National Archives of Australia
• Kenneth Dyers Military Discharge Papers — National Archives of Australia
• Application for the Registration of Copyright in a Literary Work — 'A Simple Accounting System' registered by Kenneth Dyers, 12 May 1950
• Archived Ken Dyers biography — From now defunct website www.kendyers.com, as captured on 8 October 2011
• Life in Kenja — The Spirit of Things radio program with Dr Rachael Kohn on ABC Radio National, 16 November 2008 (transcript and audio)
• Filmmaker Melissa Maclean — The Conversation Hour with Richard Fidler, ABC Radio, 15 September 2008
• We Honour the Life of a Great Australian Ken Dyers — Text and PDF versions of the full page ad placed in the Sydney Morning Herald, Canberra Times, Sunday Age, Sun Herald and St George & Sutherland Shire Leader in July/August 2007 by Kenja, archived by the National Library of Australia
• Abuse case: 'staff asked to lie' — by Alex Tibbitts, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 July 2008
• Missing Persons Register — Entry for Richard Leape in the National Missing Persons database run by the Australian government
• The Unknown Story of Cornelia Rau — by Robert Manne, The Monthly, September 2005
• The missing months of Cornelia Rau — by Gary Tippet, The Age, 12 February 2005
• Beyond Our Ken - A powerful film about the power of cult — film review by Jim Schembri, The Age, 20 September 2008; there are some interesting reader comments below the review as well
• Funeral Service of Kenneth Emmanual Dyers — Archived from the Kenja website, as it appeared in 2007
• Dyers v The Queen [2002] HCA 45 — High Court of Australia appeal orders from 9 October 2002 – S255/2001
• Sydney cult leader found dead — by Les Kennedy, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 July 2007
• Kenja Ethics — As accessed in October 2017: "1. Our purpose is to assist the individual to increase their self-esteem and develop their full potential to survive with joy in all facets of their life. 2. Kenja is a training ground to enable people to increase their creativity in the full spectrum of their own lives. If the individual neglects this and creates Kenja as a substitute for the creation of his/her own life, he/she is asked to leave until he/she can creatively expand his/her own individual life. 3. Any skills acquired in communication are used creatively towards other people. If an individual uses these skills destructively towards people, we will not work with that individual. 4. We acknowledge the individual's right to experience the discovery and expression of their own spirituality as they see fit. (People of varying religions practise the work.) 5. No one in Kenja engages in gossip. 6. No one assassinates another's character. 7. The family unit is respected, and no one interferes destructively with the family unit. 8. If a man and woman are involved in a relationship no one engages in any activity that would be destructive towards that relationship. 9. We do not charge children for training they receive in Kenja. 10. Students and older teenagers either pay rates they consider they can afford or are not charged for training. (In fact most of the training, administration and creation of the action of Kenja is done for no charge. Profits made are returned to the creation of the action.) 11. No one signs up for any workshops or classes in Kenja. 12. There are no courses at Kenja - only classes and workshops, complete in themselves. Activities are paid for on attendance. If any activity is paid in advance and the person does not attend, the money is refunded on request. 13. We will not work with individuals we consider we can't help."
• Statement to the Mosman Community from the Kenja Organisation — Issued by the Executive Committee, Kenja Communication, 26 January 2017
• On Not Speaking – The right to silence, the gagged trial judge and the spectre of child sexual abuse — by Katherine Biber, Alternative Law Journal, Volume 30, 1 February 2005, pp. 19-23
• Cate Blanchett Directing Stateless — by James White, Empire, 21 July 2015
• Kenja founder Ken Dyers — an accused paedophile — remembered on Australia Day in Mosman — by Caroline Tang, Mosman Daily, 25 January 2017
• The Good Little Girl — by Annette Stephens, Big Sky Publishing, 2012
• "I left my kids for Kenja group" — as told to Kimberly Gillan by Annette Stephens, Sunday Magazine, 15 October 2012
• Dangerous Persuaders — by Louise Samways, Penguin, 1994 (2007 update available as a free e-book download or by donation)
• All in the Mind – The Psychology of Cults — Lynne Malcolm radio interview with Annette Stephens, Louise Samways and Ros Hodgkins, ABC Radio National, 2 December 2012
• Cult leader says sex charges part of witch-hunt — Sydney Morning Herald, 28 October 2005, via AAP
• Cult boss impotent, says lawyer — by Les Kennedy, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 October 2005
• Cult leader Dyers 'now a martyr' — ABC News online, 30 July 2007
• Fighting dirty against a cultbuster — by Tim Elliott, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 February 2010
• Alison Louise PELS v Jan HAMILTON-DYERS — Local Court Judgement Transcript, 26 August 2008
• Paying To Clear A Name — Media Watch Episode 23, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 6 August 2007
• Paying to Clear A Name - Again — Media Watch Episode 28, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 17 August 2009
• AVO for cross-dressing Kenja cult founder Jan Hamilton — by Kim Arlington, Daily Telegraph, 27 August 2008
• CIFS website — Cult Information and Family Support Inc.
• How a mentally ill woman danced her way to detention — by Robert Wainwright, The Age, 12 February 2005
• The Kenja Trust presents “Guilty until proven innocent” — post by "DancingQueen" on RiotACT Canberra regional news website on 2 July 2008, with some interesting comments below
• Cult founder warned off after 'bizarre' audition ploy — by Belinda Kontominas, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 August 2008
• The University High School Magazine – School Officials 1966 — scan of 1966 school captains page, courtesy of The University High School
• Evil forces drove husband to suicide: widow — by Linda Morris, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 August 2007
• Dedicated followers left rudderless in a sceptical world — by David Millikan, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 August 2007
• Campaign to clear cult leader — by Alex Tibbitts, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 August 2007
• Woman's fake beard was 'bogus' — by Byron Kaye, Daily Telegraph, 26 June 2008
• Cult leader found shot dead in Sydney — AAP, 26 July 2007 (via the Sydney Morning Herald)
• Visions of Paradise — educational documentary by Adrian Norman, Ronin Films, 2009
• Coercive Religion — The Spirit of Things with Dr Rachael Kohn, ABC Radio National, 21 March 2010
• Xenophon's Scientology inquiry defeated in Senate — AAP, The Weekend Australian, 11 March 2010
• Australia mulls Scientology probe — BBC News, 18 November 2009
• Cult Activity In New South Wales — NSW Legislative Council Hansard, 22 April 1993
• Kenja movement holding concerts for families — by Letitia Rowlands, Essential Kids, 11 May 2015
• Hamilton v State of New South Wales [2016] NSWSC 1213 — Supreme Court of NSW Decision, 31 August 2016
• Senator Nick Xenophon vows to crack down on cult groups that are destroying lives — by Kay Dibben, The Courier-Mail, 5 February 2017