The baby farmers
Subtitle: a chilling tale of missing babies, shameful secrets and murder in 19th century Australia
By: Annie Cossins
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Sydney
Language: eng
Number of pages: 293
ISBN-13: 9781743314012
Subjects: Case studies; Trials (Infanticide); Women murderers; Infanticide; Murderers; History
Description: 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.
Notes: Record machine-generated from publisher information.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: pt. 1. Who were the Makins?; title: pt. 2. Digging up the baby farmers' secrets; title: pt. 3. Trials, appeals and various petitions; title: pt. 4. Sarah Makin, reformed woman.