The Baby Farmers

by Annie Cossins

  12 A Morovic-Budak (1965) ‘Experiences in the Process of Putrefaction in Corpses Buried in Earth’, Medicine, Science and the Law, 5, pp.42–3.

  13 Rodriguez and Bass, p.839.

  14 ibid., pp.839–43.

  Chapter 9

  1 SRO, Australian Birth Index, Volume number V1849380 66 and Register of Police Appointments (1862–1913) 8/3253.

  2 Constable Joyce’s employment history is taken from SRO, Register of Police Appointments (1857–1883) 8/3251; Register of Police Appointments (1862–1913) 8/3253.

  3 [10 August 2011].

  4 SMH, 27/9/1901, p.7.

  5 [9 and 10 July 2011].

  6 SMH, 15/10/1881, p.7.

  7 These directories are known as the Sands Directories, [16 August 2011]. In 1882, a James Joyce lived in O’Connell Street, south side, Newtown; in 1883, a James Joyce lived in O’Connell Street, west side, Newtown; in 1884 and 1885 there is no James Joyce listed although in 1886–1887, James Joyce, constable, is listed at Camden Street, south side 86. There is no Sands Directory for 1888 but in 1889 James Joyce had moved to Camden Avenue, Newtown where he lived from 1889 to 1891. In 1892, the year of his marriage to Agnes, he was listed as living at 29 Australia, east side, Newtown where he lived from 1892 to 1907.

  8 SMH, 16/5/1912, p.8.

  9 SMH, 14/5/1914, p.8.

  10 SMH, 14/5/1915, p.8.

  11 SMH, 14/5/1917, p.6.

  Chapter 10

  1 SMH, 4/11/1892, p.4.

  2 SMH, 4/11/1892, p.5; 5/11/1892, p.10.

  3 BC, 8/11/1892, p.6.

  4 All information about this police dig is taken from SMH, 4/11/1892, p.5; 5/11/1892, p.10; BC, 8/11/1892, p.6.

  5 BC, 4/11/1892, p.5; TA, 4/11/1892, p.6; The [Hobart] Mercury, 5/11/1892, p.3.

  6 Evidence of the arrests is taken from BC, 8/11/1892, p.6; SMH, 14/11/1892, p.5; EN, 7/11/1892, p.6. At this time, the Makins had three other children who were not living with them. William, aged 20, lived in Wollongong, as did Percy, who was 13 years old. Clarice, aged 14, was a domestic servant in Sydney.

  7 See [16 August 2011]. I am grateful to Ms Naomi Crago, Archivist at the City of Sydney, for this information (email communication, 27 July 2011).

  8 Sources for the police interview include SMH, 8/11/1892, p.3; 15/11/1892, p.3; BC, 11/11/1892, p.6.

  9 Stories about the Makins were reported in SMH, 12/11/1892, p.7; 14/11/1892, p.5; 16/11/1892, p.3; MMHRGA, 17/11/1892, p.7; Clarence and Richmond Examiner (henceforth CRE), 19/11/1892, p.2; BC, 17/11/1892, p.3; DT, 16/11/1892, p.6.

  10 See footnote 42, Chapter 2 for method of calculation.

  11 SRO, Will number 19812, Eleanor Makin; 17/2339, probate packet of Eleanor Makin. Part of her very long will stated, ‘And I declare that the shares of my said son John Makin and of my said daughter Emily Roberts shall be paid to them respectively by monthly instalments of Four pounds each’.

  12 The symptoms of opium addiction include greater and greater tolerance to the drug with a need for increasing concentrations to satisfy the addiction; mood swings, anxiety, paranoia and hallucinations, [24 August 2011].

  Chapter 11

  1 References to these inquests are to Inquest Numbers 1204/92, 1205/92, 1252/92, 1253/92 and 1254/92, Register of Coroner’s Deaths, 1892.

  2 All evidence from the inquest into the death of Baby 1 of Burren Street is taken from SMH, 5/11/1892, p.10; 7/11/1892, p.5; 9/11/1892, p.4; DT, 8/11/1892, p.3; 9/11/1892, p.5; BC, 11/11/1892, p.6; EN, 8/11/1892, p.6.

  3 SMH, 9/11/1892, p.4.

  4 The Moreton Bay Courier, 7/5/1859, p.4.

  5 SMH, 28/10/1850, p.3.

  6 D Manderson (1993) From Mr Sin to Mr Big: A History of Australian Drug Laws, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, p.53.

  7 Colonial Times, 2/12/1851, p.2.

  8 Manderson, p.82.

  9 A S Wohl (1983) Endangered Lives: Public Health in Victorian Britain, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, p.34.

  10 T E C Jr, (1970) ‘What Were Godfrey’s Cordial and Dalby’s Carminative?’, Pediatrics, 45, p.1011.

  11 E Cobham Brewer (1898) Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Henry Altemus, Philadelphia.

  12 T E C Jr, p.1011.

  13 Wohl, p.34.

  14 Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

  15 The Australian Academy of the History of Pharmacy, A Scandalously Short Introduction to the History of Pharmacy, [20 December 2009].

  16 Wohl, p.35.

  17 Colonial Times, 27/8/1855, p.3.

  18 SMH, 10/5/1856, p.6.

  19 Wohl, p.35.

  20 SMH, 21/6/1845, p.2.

  21 Evidence concerning the inquests into the deaths of Babies 2, 3 and 5 is taken from SMH, 9/11/1892, p.4; 12/11/1892, p.7; DT, 9/11/1892, p.5; R v Makin and Wife (1893) 14 NSWLR 1 at 10, per Windeyer J.

  22 SMH, 14/11/1892, p.5.

  Chapter 12

  1 DT, 11/11/1892, p.5.

  2 BC, 16/11/1892, p.3; The Advertiser, 17/11/1892, p.5.

  3 Registration Number 26156/1892; copy held by author.

  4 All references to this inquest are to Inquest Number 1252/92, Register of Coroner’s Deaths, 1892. Evidence from the inquest is taken from SMH, 9, 15 & 16/11/1892, p.3; 14/11/1892, p.5; TA, 14 & 18/11/1892, p.6; EN, 14, 15, 17, 18, 22, 24 & 25/11/1892, p.6; DT, 14/11/1892, p.5; 15 & 16/11/1892, p.6; BFPMJ, 17, 18, 23 & 25/11/1892, p.2; 19/11/1892, p.3; The Advertiser, 17/11/1892, p.5; BC, 17/11/1892, p.3; The West Australian, 18/11/1892, p.3; MMHRGA, 18/11/1892, p.2.

  5 DT, 17/11/1892, p.5.

  6 SMH, 9/3/1886, p.1.

  7 According to the Register of Coroner’s Deaths, 1892, the inquest was heard on 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 28 November.

  Chapter 13

  1 Birth certificate number 26156/1892; copy held by author.

  2 Although the date stamps on the telegrams sent by John Makin to Horace Bothamley are out by a month and a few days, nothing turned on this odd discrepancy. The first was dated 4/7/1892 and the second 9/7/1892, both signed by John Burt, whom a post-office clerk recognised as John Makin: SMH, 22/11/1892, p.3.

  3 P Saukko and B Knight (2004) Knight’s Forensic Pathology, Arnold, London, p.414.

  4 EN, 1/10/1892, p.4.

  5 The evidence of this part of the inquest is taken from SMH, 18 & 23/11/1892, p.6; BFPMJ, 23/11/1892, p.2; TA, 29/11/1892, p.5; EN, 23/11/1892, p.6.

  6 Allen, Sex and Secrets, p.26.

  7 The evidence of Agnes Todd is taken from TA, 18/11/1892, p.6; The Queenslander, 26/11/1892, p.1024; DT, 18/11/1892, p.6; R v Makin and Wife (1893) 14 NSWLR 1 at 11, per Windeyer J.

  8 References for this part of the inquest are taken from TA, 29/11/1892, p.5; SMH, 12/12/1892, p.7.

  9 Nonetheless, the cause of death entered in the Register of Coroners’ Inquests, 1892, for Inquest Number 1252/92 was ‘Marasmus the result of negligence and carelessness on the part of John and Sarah Makin’.

  10 SMH, 1/12/1892, p.4.

  Chapter 14

  1 Descriptions of the George, Botany, East and Kettle streets digs are taken from SMH, 10 & 11/11/1892, p.5; DT, 10/11/1892, p.5; BFPMJ, 10/11/1892, p.2; EN, 14/11/1892, p.6.

  2 Description of the Alderson Street dig is taken from SMH, 12/11/1892, p.7; 14/11/1892, p.5; 12/12/1892, pp.4, 7–8.

  3 Inquest No.1259/92 (the Register of Coroners’ Inquests, 1892). The jury returned an open verdict in relation to the death of Baby E on 14/12/1892.

  4 Description of the Levey Street dig is taken from EN, 14 & 16/11/1892, p.6; 15/11/1892, pp.4, 6; BFPMJ, 15/11/1892, p.2; CRE, 19/11/1892, p.2; SMH, 14/11/1892, p.5; BC, 17/11/1892, p.3.


  5 William Redfern was a naval surgeon in the Royal Navy who was sentenced to death for his part in a mutiny in 1797, although his death sentence was communted to transportation. He was granted 100 acres in 1817 in the Redfern area. William Chippendale, a free settler, was granted 95 acres in 1819: B Diggs and C Bickerton, ‘Pre and Post Colonial History of Redfern’, [21 July 2010]; S Fitzgerald (2008) ‘Chippendale’, [21 July 2010].

  6 B Diggs and C Bickerton.

  7 W S Jevon, ‘Sydney in 1858’, SMH, 7/12/1929, p.13.

  8 G F J Bergman (1967) ‘Levey, Solomon (1794–1833)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, pp.110–11, [17 September 2010].

  9 BC, 17/11/1892, p.3.

  10 Inquest No.1259/92 (the Register of Coroners’ Inquests, 1892) on 15 November into the deaths of Babies G and H returned an open verdict because there was no cause of death.

  11 MMHRGA, 17/11/1892, p.7.

  12 DT, 14/11/1892, p.5.

  13 SMH, 14/11/1892, p.5; EN, 15/10/1892, p.6.

  14 MMHRGA, 17/11/1892, p.7; BC, 16/11/1892, p.3.

  15 BC, 16/11/1892, p.3.

  16 BFPMJ, 12/11/1892, p.2; SMH, 14/11/1892, p.5.

  17 SMH, 11/11/1892, p.5.

  18 DT, 15/11/1892, p.6.

  Chapter 15

  1 EN, 29/11/1892, p.6.

  2 Herben, p.36.

  3 SMH, 14/11/1892, p.5; 15/12/1892, p.4; 21/12/1892, p.7; EN, 29/11/1892, p.6.

  4 Inquest No. 1371/92, Register of Coroners’ Inquests, 1892.

  5 Evidence from the second George Street inquest is taken from EN, 17/11/1892, p.6; 15/12/1892, p.6; BFPMJ, 15/12/1892, p.3; SMH, 15/12/1892, p.4; 17/12/1892, p.2; The Advertiser, 17/12/1892 p.4; MMHRGA, 22/12/1892, p.5.

  6 One report said that Clarice revealed there were four babies in the house in George Street (SMH, 15/12/1892, p.6). Six babies accords with evidence given by other witnesses, as well as the Notes of Evidence of R v Sarah Makin and John Makin, Justice Stephen, 3 April 1893, SRO, Register 10/11136.

  7 Clara’s evidence is taken from EN, 15/12/1892, p.6; SMH, 15/12/1892, p.4; 16/12/1892, p.3; 17/12/1892, p.10.

  8 The evidence for day two of the second George Street inquest is taken from EN, 15/12/1892, p.4; 16/12/1892, pp.4, 6; SMH, 16/12/1892, p.3; DT, 22/11/1892, p.6; 16/12/1892, p.2.

  9 EN, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23 & 24/6/1892, p.1.

  10 This evidence and account of proceedings is taken from EN, 17/12/1892, p.6.

  11 The account of the incident between Makin and Joyce and the juryman is taken from EN, 17/12/1892, p.6; Barrier Miner, 16/12/1892, p.4.

  12 The evidence from post-lunch on day two is taken from SMH, 17/12/1892, p.10; BFPMJ, 17/12/1892, p.2; EN, 17/12/1892, p.6; DT, 10/11/1892, p.5.

  Chapter 16

  1 Inquest number 1369/92, Register of Coroners’ Inquests, 1892. Evidence at the inquest into Baby D is taken from SMH, 7/12/1892, p.3; 21/12/1892, pp.4, 7; 22/12/1892, p.4; 7/3/1893, p.3; EN, 20/12/1892, p.4; 21 & 22/12/1892, pp.4, 6; TA, 21/12/1892, p.5; 22/12/1892, p.6; DT, 21/12/1892, p.5; The Advertiser, 22/12/1892, p.5; MMHRGA, 22/12/1892, p.5; BC, 17/11/1892, p.3; R v Makin and Wife (1893) 14 NSWLR 1 at 7–8, per Windeyer J; depositions of Amber Murray, Mrs Patrick, Clarice Makin, 21 December 1892, filed in Register 9/6839 Clerk of the Peace, Central Criminal Court, Sydney, February 1893; R v John Makin and Sarah Makin (murder) held by the SRO.

  2 BC, 17/11/1892, p.3.

  3 ibid.

  4 The accounts of the Makins’ reactions are taken from SMH, 22/12/1892, p.4; 26/12/1892, p.3; The Advertiser, 22/12/1892, p.5; TA, 22/12/1892, p.8.

  5 G Robbins, ‘Age Estimation’, quoting Fazekas and Kosa (1978), [29 January 2012].

  6 J Kiesler and R Ricer (2003) ‘The Abnormal Fontanel’, American Family Physician, 67, pp.2547–52; G Duc and R H Largo (1986) ‘Anterior Fontanel: Size and Closure in Term and Preterm Infants’, Pediatrics, 78, pp.904–8; see also W Derkowski, A Kedzia and M Glonek (2003) ‘Clinical Anatomy of the Human Anterior Cranial Fossa during the Prenatal Period’, Folia Morphologica, 62, pp.271–3.

  7 M Nyström, L Peck, E Kleemola-Kujala, M Evälahti and M Kataja (2000) ‘Age Estimation in Small Children: Reference Values Based on Counts of Deciduous Teeth in Finns’, Forensic Science International, 10, pp.179–88.

  Chapter 17

  1 Letter 93/1251 and statement 93/449, filed in Register 9/6839 Clerk of the Peace, Central Criminal Court, Sydney, February 1893; R v John Makin and Sarah Makin (murder), held by the SRO. The statement, signed by John Makin, was not written in his own hand.

  2 Letters 93/1051, filed in ibid.

  3 ibid., emphases in original.

  4 See HML v The Queen; SB v The Queen; OAE v The Queen [2008] HCA 16 at [443]-[444], per Crennan J.

  5 Descriptions of the courtroom scene before the trial commenced, including opening addresses, are taken from SMH, 7/3/1893, p.3.

  6 R v Makin and Wife (1893) 14 NSWR 1 at 6, per Windeyer J.

  7 SMH, 14/11/1892, p.5.

  8 R v Makin and Wife (1893) 14 NSWR 1 at 30, per Windeyer J.

  9 R v Makin and Wife (1893) 14 NSWR 1 at 5; argument for the Crown on appeal.

  10 The evidence from this trial is taken from SMH, 7/3/1893, p.3; 8/3/1893, p.4; 9/3/1893, p.8; 20/3/1893, p.3; BFPMJ, 10/3/1893, p.2.

  11 Pfennig v R (1995) 182 CLR 461; Uniform Evidence Acts, s101(2).

  12 ; [17 January 2011].

  13 See Chapter 20.

  14 This tunnel was built to prevent prisoners from escaping when being transferred from the gaol to the court and back again.

  15 SAR, 10/3/1893, p.5.

  16 See section 20, Uniform Evidence Acts; Azzopardi v R (2001) 205 CLR 50 at [51], per Gaudron, Gummow, Kirby and Hayne JJ.

  17 Dyers v R (2002) 210 CLR 285.

  18 This is confirmed in the Notes of Evidence of R v Sarah Makin and John Makin written by Justice Stephen on 3 April 1893 in which he stated: ‘I left the case to the Jury upon the latter’, that is, the second count charging John and Sarah Makin with the murder of an infant whose name was unknown. SRO, 5/7913, Register 10/11136.

  19 Several newspapers reported that the Makins had been found guilty of the murder of Horace Amber Murray: Gippsland Times, 10/3/1893, p.3; BFPMJ, 10/3/1893, p.2; Northern Star, 1/4/1893, p.3; The Advertiser, 10/3/1893, p.5; SAR, 1/4/1893, p.4; SMH, 10/3/1893, p.3; BC, 11/3/1893, p.4.

  Chapter 18

  1 SAR, 10/3/1893, p.5; TA, 10/3/1893, p.4.

  2 SMH, 31/3/1893, pp.4–5.

  3 SAR, 10/3/1893, p.5.

  4 SMH, 31/3/1893, p.5; R v Makin and Wife (1893) 14 NSWLR 1 at 18, per Windeyer J.

  5 S Edgar and B Nairn (1976) ‘Salomons, Sir Julian Emanuel (1835–1909)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, pp.81–3, [1 August 2010].

  6 ibid.

  7 ibid.

  8 ibid.

  9 P Serle, ‘Salomons, Sir Julian Emanuel (1836–1909)’, Dictionary of Australian Biography, [2 August 2010].

  10 He made what was at the time the longest speech in the history of the Council, an eight hour recitation on the Federation Bill on two consecutive days, 28 and 29 July 1897 (Parliament of New South Wales, ‘Miscellaneous NSW Parliamentary Facts’), [2 August 2010].

  11 (1976) ‘Windeyer, Sir William Charles (1834–1897)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, pp.420–2, [24 February 2011].r />
  12 G D Woods (2002) A History of Criminal Law in New South Wales: The Colonial Period 1788–1900, The Federation Press, Sydney, p.389.

  13 ibid., p.390. See his famous judgment in Ex parte Collins (1888) 9 NSWLR 497 at 515–17.

  14 Woods, p.389.

  15 This chapter is based on the court report in SMH, 24/3/1893, pp.2–3 and R v Makin and Wife (1893) 14 NSWLR 1.

  16 Justice Innes’ argument was based on s9 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act which he said altered the rule that a defendant had to rebut the presumption of murder when an unlawful killing is established.

  17 The law in relation to unreasonable or unsafe and unsatisfactory verdicts is summarised in Castagna v R [2012] NSWCCA 181 at [91], per Latham J.

  18 Today, there is no presumption of murder. The prosecution bears the onus to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that an accused (i) committed the act that caused the victim’s death and (ii) intended to kill the victim.

  19 See Chapter 20.

  20 SMH, 31/3/1893, p.4.

  21 SAR, 1/4/1893, p.4.

  Chapter 19

  1 The sentencing hearing was reported in SMH, 31/3/1893, p.3.

  2 ibid., p.4.

  Chapter 20

  1 Minutes and Papers Respecting the Respite of John Makin, pending hearing of appeal to the Privy Council, SRO, filed in Register 4/909.1.

  2 SMH, 5/5/1893, p.5.

  3 SMH, 20/4/1893, p.6.

  4 Woods, p.400.

  5 SMH, 5/5/1893, p.5.

  6 SMH, 4/8/1893, p.3.

  7 This discussion of the appeal is based on Makin v Attorney-General for New South Wales [1894] AC 57. The appeal proceeded on the incorrect basis that there had been sufficient evidence at trial to identify Baby D as Horace Amber Murray.

  8 Woods, p.393.

  9 Pfennig v R (1995) 182 CLR 461; the Pfennig test applies in Australian common law jurisdictions.

  10 Infant mortality rates represent the number of infant deaths in the first year of life for each 1000 live births. Reliable figures are only available for Australia from 1870 onwards. In NSW in 1871–75, the rate was 101–110, rising to 121–130 during 1881–85 and falling to 111–120 during 1896–1900: Camm and McQuilton, p.165.

  11 See ; [27 August 2011].