Doomsday cult wins federal cash
By Samantha Maiden
August 3, 2004

A DOOMSDAY cult led by a self-proclaimed prophet who has been banned by the Vatican has secured $332,000 from the Howard Government to run a private school since 1996.

William "Little Pebble" Kamm has previously predicted a tsunami would devastate Australia's east cost and believes his Order of St Charbel converts in NSW, Victoria and South Australia will survive the coming apocalypse after he is appointed as the last pope.

But first, the former bank worker who claims he is sent messages by the Virgin Mary is busy building his controversial religious order - which recently secured a $75,000 federal grant for capital works at Saint Joseph's School in Cambewarra, near Nowra, on the NSW south coast.

Mr Kamm was denounced by the then Archbishop of Melbourne George Pell in 1997, after a report found Mr Kamm asked female devotees to bear his children through "mystical marriages", claiming he possessed the "Holy Seed" to breed a new race.

NSW Education Minister Andrew Refshauge confirmed yesterday that child protection authorities would be asked to review Saint Joseph's registration.