This comprehensive paper establishes that the non-Aboriginal GuriNgai group and the Coast Environmental Alliance (CEA) meet all core criteria of cultic organisations as defined in psychological, sociological, and legal literature. Far from being benign activist groups, they function as high-control, identity-based cults that manipulate public institutions, co-opt Aboriginal identity, and obstruct Aboriginal governance (Langone, 1993; Lifton, 1989; Lalich, 2004; Hassan, 2015).
Both groups are organised around charismatic authority: Tracey Howie claims to be an Aboriginal Elder without verifiable genealogical or community recognition, while Jake Cassar performs spiritualised environmental leadership rooted in survivalist and conspiratorial ideologies (Cooke, 2025; Bungaree.org, 2025). Their authority is sustained not by tradition or law but by narrative mythologies and emotional manipulation. These leaders exercise control over behaviour, thought, emotion, and access to information, exemplifying the BITE model of authoritarian control (Hassan, 2015).
The groups engage in deliberate mythmaking—inventing clans, languages, and sacred geographies that have no basis in Aboriginal history. These manufactured beliefs serve both to recruit followers and to legitimate opposition to Aboriginal-led developments. Examples include the Kariong Glyphs and the “Grandmother Tree,” which are positioned as spiritually significant despite being unauthenticated and explicitly rejected by legitimate Aboriginal authorities (Coltheart, 2011; guringai.org, 2025).
This settler simulation, described as “playing Indian” (Deloria, 1998), reframes settler identity theft as spiritual healing or ecological defence. Members are encouraged to adopt Aboriginal names, perform faux-ceremonies, and internalise pseudo-spiritual narratives that reframe settler guilt as cultural entitlement. These rituals and narratives are not passive cultural confusion but active tools of recolonisation, displacing Indigenous law with settler fantasies (Moreton-Robinson, 2015; Watego, 2021).
Epistemic and behavioural control is central to the cultic operations of both groups. Members are cut off from legitimate Aboriginal knowledge, embedded in echo chambers, and psychologically entrapped through guilt, fear, and a closed belief system. Dissent is punished not through dialogue but by accusations of betrayal or spiritual impurity (Singer, 2003; Lalich, 2004).
The social harms are extensive. These cults displace authentic Aboriginal representation in policy, media, and education. They mislead institutions into legitimising false claims of cultural authority, divert resources from real Aboriginal communities, and erase intergenerational knowledge systems. By engaging in what Tuck and Yang (2012) call “settler moves to innocence,” the GuriNgai and CEA obscure their role in the continued undermining of Aboriginal sovereignty.
To dismantle these cultic formations and recentre Indigenous authority, the paper offers extensive recommendations. These include legislative reforms requiring identity verification based on descent and community recognition (Fforde et al., 2021), cultural safety training for local councils, media accountability in reporting on identity claims, and education about spiritual fraud and cultural appropriation. It also calls for the creation of trauma-informed cult recovery programs and Aboriginal-led oversight bodies with the authority to investigate and challenge fraudulent claims.
Ultimately, the GuriNgai and CEA operate as settler cults, not spiritual allies or environmental protectors. They exploit ecological and cultural language to legitimise white possessiveness and impede Aboriginal justice. Their dismantling requires not just exposure, but structural, legal, and epistemic transformation led by Aboriginal communities.
Bungaree.org 
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