{{Short description|Australian company}} {{Infobox company |logo=KenjaComm-logo.jpg |name=Kenja Communication |key_people=Ken Dyers (co-founder)<br />Jan Hamilton (co-founder) Cornelia Rau (High Profile Member) |founded={{start date and age|1982|df=yes}} |website={{URL|http://www.kenja.com.au}} |area_served=Australia (Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne) }} '''Kenja Communication''', or simply '''Kenja''',<ref name=kenja>{{cite web |url=http://www.kenja.com.au |title=Kenja Communication |publisher=Kenja Trust}}</ref> is an Australian company co-founded in 1982 by Ken Dyers and his partner, Jan Hamilton. The word 'Kenja' is derived from the first letters of their names. There are four Kenja centres, in Sydney, Greater Western Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Kenja Communication runs classes, workshops and one-to-one sessions, as well as events and activities at different venues around Australia. It has gained public attention through court trials involving various members of the group, leader Ken Dyers' suicide following allegations of child sexual abuse, and the group's alleged involvement in the Cornelia Rau case.
==About Kenja== Kenja describes its purpose on its website as being <blockquote>To increase understanding of the spiritual nature of man and our relation to the human spirit, coupled with practical training in the basics of effective communication—time, space and energy.</blockquote>
The training is based on the research done by Ken Dyers over 60 years, into an understanding of the spirit, the human spirit, and how a better understanding of energy can assist the individual to be more effective in the different areas of their life.
The website also states that Kenja Communication is "neither political nor religious". Kenja describes itself as being an advocate for the empowerment of the individual, ready to assist them to be in charge of their own destiny.
A former Liberal Party parliamentarian Stephen Mutch, with detailed knowledge of high-ranking members described Kenja as "a sinister organisation designed to fill the pockets and stroke the egos"<ref name="the monthly">{{cite web |url=https://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-robert-manne-unknown-story-cornelia-rau-often-she-cried-sometimes-she-screamed-she-be |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250816011138/https://www.themonthly.com.au/september-2005/essays/unknown-story-cornelia-rau |archive-date=August 16, 2025 |title=The Unknown Story of Cornelia Rau |first=Robert |last=Manne |work=The Monthly |date=7 September 2005 |accessdate=23 January 2020}}</ref><ref name="lcouncil">{{cite web |title=Legislative Council Hansard |publisher=Parliament of New South Wales |date=22 April 1993 |url=https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1820781676-3524 |accessdate=23 January 2020 |archive-date=29 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629074158/https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1820781676-3524 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="lcouncil2">{{cite web |title=Legislative Council Hansard |publisher=Parliament of New South Wales |date=22 April 1993 |url=https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1820781676-3539 |accessdate=23 January 2020 |archive-date=29 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629074158/https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1820781676-3539 |url-status=dead }}</ref> under parliamentary privilege in the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1993. {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
=== National Redress Scheme === In July 2020 Kenja was named as one of six organisations that have failed to sign onto the National Redress Scheme<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-02|title=More organisations join National Redress Scheme after being named and shamed|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-02/more-organisations-join-national-redress-scheme-anne-ruston/12415214|access-date=2020-07-02|website=www.abc.net.au|language=en-AU}}</ref> for victims of institutional child sexual abuse.
At a hearing of the senate committee into the implementation of the National Redress Scheme former cult member Ms Ring told a senate committee that many adults who are still active in Kenja knew about and witnessed her abuse, including Ms Hamilton who also groomed and emotionally abused her as well. Her testimony was made under parliamentary privilege. [https://www.smh.com.au/national/cult-leader-s-widow-accused-of-grooming-girls-for-sexual-abuse-20211011-p58z1p.html] A statement of reply on the Kenja website states "Jan Hamilton completely rejects as false, malicious and defamatory the statements made by Michelle Ring in the Federal Parliament. Those allegations were made in Parliament and so are accorded parliamentary privilege. All Ms Ring's allegations are completely denied. They are baseless and degrading."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statement re Michelle Ring's allegations in parliament - Kenja Communication |url=http://www.kenja.com.au/smh-michelle-ring-allegations.aspx |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=www.kenja.com.au}}</ref>
==="Energy Conversion"=== Kenja training focuses on a form of meditation it calls "Energy Conversion", which it describes as a way to "permanently eliminate the suppressed emotion, thought or energy that can divert us from what we want to achieve".<ref name=kenjaenergy>{{cite web |url=http://www.kenja.com.au/Home/BasisofTraining/EnergyConversionMeditation/tabid/227/Default.aspx |title=Energy Conversion |publisher=Kenja Communication |access-date=23 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227123912/http://www.kenja.com.au/Home/BasisofTraining/EnergyConversionMeditation/tabid/227/Default.aspx |archive-date=27 February 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Theatre documentary: ''Guilty Until Proven Innocent''=== For 10 years, Kenja has produced a theatre documentary called ''Guilty Until Proven Innocent'' in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra.<ref name=guiltyuntilproveninnocent>{{cite web |url=http://www.guilty-until-proven-innocent.com |title='Guilty Until Proven Innocent' Theatre Documentary |publisher=Kenja Trust}}</ref> The documentary purported to expose "a 15-year-long attack on Kenja and the reputation of Ken Dyers",<ref name=kenjaattacked>{{cite web |url=http://www.kenja-attacked.com |title=Kenja Attacked: The attack on spiritual freedom |publisher=Kenja Trust |access-date=23 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610183025/http://www.kenja-attacked.com/ |archive-date=10 June 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and concludes the perceived attack on Dyers is part of a much wider attack on the "spiritual liberty" of the general public.<ref name="smh-clear-leader"/>
The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' reviewed the theatre documentary in the pair of articles "Abuse case: 'staff asked to lie'"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/abuse-case-staff-asked-to-lie/2008/07/25/1216492732911.html?page=fullpage |title=Abuse case: 'staff asked to lie' |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=26 July 2008}}</ref> and "Campaign to clear cult leader".<ref name="smh-clear-leader">{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/11/1186530630814.html?page=fullpage |title=Campaign to clear cult leader |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=11 August 2007}}</ref>
In the Downing Centre Local Court, on 26 August 2008, Magistrate R. Clisdell made the following observation about the documentary in his summary: "I find the lecture series to be a continuation of that harassment, in that a reasonable person in the position of (victim's name) could be harassed and intimidated by that performance".<ref name="paytoclearagain">{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/paying-to-clear-a-name---again/9974830 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930030133/https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/paying-to-clear-a-name---again/9974830 |archive-date=30 September 2022 |series=Media Watch |title=Paying to Clear A Name – Again |work=Media Watch (TV program) |date=17 August 2009 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref>
The City of Melbourne cancelled the venue booking of the 2009 Kenja Eisteddfod. It created some controversy as Kenja claimed it was probably connected with the theatre documentary, scheduled to be shown after the event.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://melbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/dances-with-spirits/ |title=Controversial group ousted from town hall |date=13 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121212073641/http://melbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/dances-with-spirits/ |archivedate=12 December 2012}}</ref>
The theatre documentary continues to be shown in Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney.
=== Scientology === thumb|right|Hubbard's beliefs and practices, drawn from a diverse set of sources, influenced numerous offshoots, splinter groups, and new movements Dyers joined the Church of Scientology but later left it. In a list published from the 1950s onwards by the organisation, Dyers is listed as a suppressive person.<ref>{{cite web|title=Flag ED 2830RB, 25 July 1992, Suppressive persons and suppressive groups list |author=Int Justice Chief |publisher=Church of Scientology, whyaretheydead.net |url=http://www.whyaretheydead.net/misc/Factnet/SPGROUPS.TXT |accessdate=22 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009092158/http://www.whyaretheydead.net/misc/Factnet/SPGROUPS.TXT |archivedate= 9 October 2006 }}</ref> Kenja uses some Scientology techniques including training routine TR6, "Walk over to that wall".<ref>{{Multiref2 |1={{Cite episode |title=Former Cult Members |series=You Can't Ask That |season=3 |issue=3 |date=25 July 2018 |via=Netflix |people=Adrian Norman}} |2={{Cite magazine |title=The Paradise Project |url=https://www.cifs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/VisionsofParadise.pdf |magazine=The Skeptic |volume=30 |issue=3 |date=September 2010 |first=Michael |last=Wolloghan |pages=11-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304101235/https://www.skeptics.com.au/wp-content/uploads/magazine/The%20Skeptic%20Volume%2030%20(2010)%20No%203.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |quote=Adrian Norman: I was involved for a period of about seven years with a cult called Kenja which was set up by an ex-scientologist Ken Dyers and his partner Jan Hamilton in 1982. I didn't know at the time that Dyers had been a scientologist and that the techniques he used to control people were from scientology.}} }}</ref>
===Classification as a cult or sect=== The Kenja group has been described as a cult by Robert Manne, eminent professor of politics at La Trobe University, and ''The Sydney Morning Herald''.<ref name="the monthly"/><ref name="smh-clear-leader"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cult-leader-says-sex-charges-part-of-witchhunt/2005/10/28/1130400339271.html |title=Cult leader says sex charges part of witch-hunt |date=28 October 2005 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Dance-photos-reminder-of-a-troubled-trainee/2005/02/11/1108061872287.html |title=Reminder of a troubled trainee |date=12 February 2005 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref>
==Controversies== ===Cornelia Rau=== In 2005, a mentally ill former Kenja member, Cornelia Rau, gained widespread media attention in Australia due to being unlawfully detained for a period of 10 months by the Australian government.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2005/cornelia-chronology.htm |title=Cornelia Rau Chronology |work=Four Corners|date=10 October 2023 }}</ref> Before this, she had disappeared and later turned up in North Queensland, where Aboriginal people alerted the police after being concerned about her behaviour. She told them she was Anna Brotmeyer (and later Anna Schmidt) from Germany. Immigration officials assumed she was an illegal immigrant and failed to diagnose her schizophrenia, leading to her detention.
Her family accused Kenja of contributing to her declining mental health.<ref name="face">{{cite news |title=This is the face behind a cult |work=The Daily Telegraph|location=Sydney |date=10 February 2005 |first=Lisa |last=Davies}}</ref> A claim has been made that she developed schizophrenia during her time as a member of the group.<ref>{{cite news |last=Davies |first=Lisa |title=Cult linked to Cornelia |work=Herald Sun |date=8 February 2005 |page=7}}</ref><ref name="rau_angry">{{cite news |last=Naughton |first=Kevin |title=Rau angry at sister's visit – but family sees hopeful signs |work=The Sunday Mail |date=13 February 2005 |page=8}}</ref> Prior to her small involvement with Kenja between May and October 1998 during her 4-month off from working with Qantas,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-robert-manne-unknown-story-cornelia-rau-often-she-cried-sometimes-she-screamed-she-be |title=THE UNKNOWN STORY OF CORNELIA RAU |author=ROBERT MANNE |date=September 2005}}</ref> it was discovered that she already had this condition in 1996 (eight years prior to being picked up at Coen, Queensland in March 2004) with her family enduring her troubled journey with many psychotic episodes and was also great at masking her symptoms when she wanted to.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media_releases/media05/palmer-report.pdf |title=Palmer Report - 2.3.1 - A Private Citizen |date=2005-07-17 |website=Palmer Report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050717070306/http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media_releases/media05/palmer-report.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2005 |access-date=2017-07-21 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Hamilton denied any wrongdoing, saying: "We are not responsible for Cornelia's condition... we are not a cult. It's a witch-hunt." Rau's sister, other family members, and several members of Kenja present at the time formed a different opinion while observing Rau's involvement in the group.<ref name="face"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/immigration/raus-sister-blames-cult/2005/02/08/1107625185186.html |title=Rau's sister blames cult |series=Immigration features |work=The Age |author=Daniel Ziffer |date=8 February 2005 |location=Melbourne}}</ref> Hamilton also claimed, retrospectively, Rau was "scattered, disassociated" as a member of the group, and that she was asked to leave because she needed help and the group "couldn't help her".<ref>{{cite news |last=Wainwright |first=Robert |title=Dance photos reminder of a troubled trainee |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=12 February 2005 |page=4}}</ref> However, witnesses quoted in the media say she was humiliated and expelled.<ref name="rau_angry"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Davies |first=Lisa |title=The humiliation of Cornelia Rau |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=11 February 2005 |page=9}}</ref> The claim has been made that Rau was driven to the airport on the night of the Melbourne Eisteddfod, put on an aeroplane to Sydney, and told never to return to the group. Three days later she was picked up by New South Wales police driving on the wrong side of the road.
Rau was incarcerated in the German psychiatric system following a trip while on a medication vacation in October 2008.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/germans-held-cornelia-rau-for-weeks/2008/11/26/1227491636523.html |title=Germans held Rau for weeks |date=27 November 2008 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> In February 2009, Rau was arrested and imprisoned in Jordan after behaving erratically and refusing to pay bills.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/cornelia-rau-locked-up-in-jordan-20090220-8dm6.html |title=Cornelia Rau locked up in Jordan |date=21 February 2009 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref>
===Richard Leape=== A male member of Kenja named Richard Leape, who was being treated for schizophrenia, disappeared around 1993 and has not been seen since. His sister, Annette, says she once found him in the street "totally paranoid and irrational, saying Nazis were going to get him". She was concerned that many other people had "developed very serious mental illnesses" from their time in Kenja, and said she was "appalled" to know Kenja still exists.<ref name="face"/>
===Michael Beaver=== A young man who was a Kenja member for two years, Michael Beaver, was also diagnosed with (and hospitalised for) chronic schizophrenia. He blamed Kenja, and said he had heard of four other people who had severe problems since leaving Kenja. Beaver later killed himself, writing in his suicide note that Kenja was "partly to blame".<ref name="lcouncil"/>
===Stephen Mutch=== In 2010, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' reported that in 1994 Kenja had directed one of its members to make false allegations of sexual assault against Stephen Mutch, a prominent opponent of the organisation. The woman alleged that Mutch had assaulted her in 1978, although police and prosecutors declined to lay charges. Anonymous letters were sent to the media and Mutch's colleagues, and members of Kenja also disrupted his wedding. The woman's ex-boyfriend provided a statutory declaration to the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' that she had admitted fabricating the allegations, and her mother also agreed that the allegations were false.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/fighting-dirty-against-a-cultbuster-20100226-p958.html|title=Fighting dirty against a cultbuster|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=27 February 2010|access-date=11 April 2021|first=Tim|last=Elliott}}</ref>
==Apprehended violence orders== Two apprehended violence order (AVO)-related court cases involving senior Kenja members have come before the courts.
Senior members of Kenja Communication were cross-examined in a court case involving a father and his daughter, who made serious charges of sexual molestation against Dyers.<ref>{{cite news |last=Davies |first=Lisa |title=Cult strikes back – Kenja critic assault a lie: court told |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=6 December 2007 |page=35}}</ref> The Kenja members' claim to have been assaulted by the father was rejected by the court and the charges against the man were dropped.
Jan Hamilton was cross-examined in a court case involving an alleged attempt to threaten a young girl, who had made serious sexual allegations against her husband, Ken Dyers, prior to his suicide.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23922828-5006009,00.html |title=Woman's fake beard was 'bogus' |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=26 June 2008 |accessdate=11 September 2008 |first=Byron |last=Kaye |archive-date=26 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626202610/http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23922828-5006009,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> On 26 August 2008, the young lady, formerly a member of the Kenja group, successfully secured an AVO against the co-founder of the group. Jan Hamilton was ordered not to stalk, harass, or intimidate the woman as part of a two-year AVO.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cults-bizarre-ploy-to-initimidate-nonbeliever/2008/08/26/1219516472353.html |title=Cult founder warned off after 'bizarre' audition ploy |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=27 August 2008 |accessdate=11 September 2008}}</ref> The magistrate forwarded details of the trial to the attorney general, requesting an investigation on criminal grounds for perverting the course of justice.<ref name="paytoclearagain"/> Hamilton vigorously denied the allegations and indicated she would appeal against the decision, but no appeal was made to the AVO and she was ordered to pay the legal costs of the victim, totalling $37,500.
==Popular culture==
The Kenja group was the subject of the 2008 documentary ''Beyond Our Ken'', directed by Luke Walker and Melissa Maclean. The film was nominated for Best Documentary in 2008 by the Australian Film Institute and Film Critics Circle of Australia. ''Beyond Our Ken'' was voted the third-most popular documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
The international premiere of ''Beyond Our Ken'' at Toronto's Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival generated controversy when Kenja flew from Australia to protest at the screenings.
Network 10 reported that a Department of Defence spokesperson had made the following statement in relation to the yearly advertisements placed in Fairfax Press newspapers: "The Army will contact Kenja Communication shortly to issue a notice to cease and desist using the Army's Rising Sun badge".
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Screen Australia produced an original drama series called ''Stateless''. It was inspired by the Cornelia Rau case and depicted the main character escaping a suburban cult, but never directly named the organisation.
==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}} * Jones, Cindy. "Kenja group 'destructive' and 'sinister' claims MP." The Sun-Herald 13 December 1992 p. 7 * Mostyn, Suzanne. "MPs told of cult leader's sexual and mental abuse." Sydney Morning Herald 27 April 1993 p. 6 * Papadopoulos, Nick. "Founder of Kenja to seek no-bill after partial acquittal on sex charges." Sydney Morning Herald 16 April 1996 p. 10
== External links == * {{Official website|http://www.kenja.com.au|Kenja Communication's official website}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080116183230/http://www.kendyers.com/ Ken Dyers' website] (archived) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120610183025/http://www.kenja-attacked.com/ Kenja Attacked website] * [http://www.themonthly.com.au/excerpts/issue5_excerpt_001.html ''The Unknown Story of Cornelia Rau''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819095426/http://www.themonthly.com.au/excerpts/issue5_excerpt_001.html |date=19 August 2006 }} * [http://www.beyondourken.com.au/ ''Beyond our Ken'' documentary website] * [http://www.guilty-until-proven-innocent.com ''Guilty Until Proven Innocent'' theatre documentary website] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20230204201931/https://sites.google.com/site/thecorneliarau/ Cornelia Rau Homepage] (archived)
Category:Sex scandals in Australia Category:Companies based in Sydney Category:Companies based in Canberra Category:Companies based in Melbourne Category:Australian companies established in 1982