Research Catalog

Title

The baby farmers : a chilling tale of missing babies, shameful secrets and murder in 19th century Australia / Annie Cossins.

Author

Cossins, Anne

Publication

Sydney : Allen & Unwin, 2013.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

ix, 293 p., [12] p. of plates : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

In October 1892, a one-month-old baby boy was found buried in the backyard of Sarah and John Makin, two wretchedly poor baby farmers in inner Sydney. In the weeks that followed, 12 more babies were found buried in the backyards of other houses in which the Makins had lived. This resulted in the most infamous trial in Australian legal history, and exposed a shocking underworld of desperate mothers, drugged and starving babies, and a black market in the sale and murder of children. Annie Cossins pieces together a dramatic and tragic tale with larger-than-life characters: theatrical Sarah Makin, her smooth-talking husband John, her disloyal daughter, Clarice, diligent Constable James Joyce with curious domestic arrangements of his own, and a network of baby farmers stretching across the city. It's a glimpse into a society that preferred to turn a blind eye to the fate of its most vulnerable members, only a century ago.

Subject

• Infanticide > New South Wales > History
• Makin, John
• Makin, Sarah
• Murderers > New South Wales > Case studies
• Trials (Infanticide) > New South Wales
• Women murderers > New South Wales > Case studies

Note

• Record machine-generated from publisher information.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Pt. 1. Who were the Makins? -- pt. 2. Digging up the baby farmers' secrets -- pt. 3. Trials, appeals and various petitions -- pt. 4. Sarah Makin, reformed woman.

ISBN

• 9781743314012 (pbk) :
• 1743314019 (pbk)

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library