When the remains of an infant were uncovered in a Sydney backyard, it was just the start of a dark and twisted scandal that shocked colonial Australia. As police uncovered over a dozen more infant remains, the secret world of Sarah and John Makin’s baby-farming operation came into view.
In this episode we’re joined by author of ‘The Baby Farmers’, Dr Annie Cossens, to dissect what really happened and how baby farming thrived in an era when young women and unmarried mothers had nowhere to turn - and society looked the other way.

Find more information on Dr Annie Cossins' books at the links below:
The Baby Farmers
Female Criminality: Infanticide, Moral Panics and the Female Body

 

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.