The Baby Farmers
eBook - ePub

The Baby Farmers

A Chilling Tale of Missing Babies, Shameful Secrets and Murder in 19th Century Australia

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Baby Farmers

A Chilling Tale of Missing Babies, Shameful Secrets and Murder in 19th Century Australia

About this book

The most common murder victim in 19th century Australia was a baby, and the most common perpetrator was a woman—a fascinating story of the most infamous legal trial in Australia

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.

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Yes, you can access The Baby Farmers by Annie Cossins in PDF and/or ePUB format. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Allen & Unwin
Year
2014
eBook ISBN
9781743434512
Edition
0
Subtopic
Australian & Oceanian History

Table of contents

  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. TITLE PAGE
  4. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  5. CONTENTS
  6. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  7. PROLOGUE
  8. PART I: WHO WERE THE MAKINS?
  9. PART II: DIGGING UP THE BABY FARMERS’ SECRETS
  10. PART III: TRIALS, APPEALS AND VARIOUS PETITIONS
  11. PART IV: SARAH MAKIN, REFORMED WOMAN
  12. NOTES
  13. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS