Foul smell unmasked Australia's âhellishâ baby farmers
In a string of houses in the inner west lies a dark secret that left 13 tiny babies dead and revealed the âhellishâ black market that plagued colonial Sydney.
Crime
by Gillian McNally
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It was the plumbing in a Sydney terrace that gave John and Sarah Makin away.
On October 11, 1892, workers laying drains in the backyard of a house in Burren St, Macdonaldtown, found two bundles of foul-smelling clothing.
The first was dismissed as a dead cat but when they unfurled the second, they saw the remains of a tiny infant.
Police were called and officers spent days digging up the yard.