The Baby Farmers: a true horror story born in Dapto

Jocelyn Gallagher had already known of the dark past of her family line when sifting through her family's historical photos, not surprised to come across the image thought to be of mass murderers John and Sarah Makin who went on to be known as "The Baby Farmers".

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The macabre image Jocelyn found (of a couple with three children, dressed in late 19^th Century attire), was posted to the Lost Wollongong Facebook group.

The photo caused a stir and drew forth many other long lost relatives of the Makins while some commented on their shock to learn of the true horror story of the Macdonaldtown murderers.

"Everyone's been saying 'oh, it's a secret', well it wasn't a secret in our household," Jocelyn told the Mercury.

"There was a history book about it [From Burren Street to the Gallows] ... it wasn't a big thing. It was like 'have a read of this, it' dad's relatives'. A lot of [people] are shocked. I suppose people want to be convicts or something, I guess, we're baby farmers."

Some people have questioned the identities in the image she posted, as not many photos of John and Sarah exist to compare to.

Jocelyn said it's a family history some want buried while others would rather embellish the tale, but the bodies of 15 babies were found with a court ruling at least 13 died by the hands of John and Sarah Makin.

Jocelyn's great grandmother was a Makin and possibly a cousin of the infamous John - currently she is collating her family tree, a job taken over from her late Aunty Cheryl.

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She didn't want to be photographed for the story but was happy to share her fascination with her past.

"I've been to the Police Museum in Sydney and there's bits in there about it," she said.

John Sidney Makin was born in 1845 in Dapto, raised in Corrimal Street in Wollongong, and was one of eleven children to William and Ellen Makin - a well-known family in the region.

Various members of the Makins owned hotels in Wollongong, according to the Illawarra Historical Society.

"John's father, William, operated a hotel on the south-west corner of Market and Corrimal Streets but it did not last long," the society said.

"His brother, Joseph, owned the Royal Hotel (later called Makins Family Hotel and later the Oxford Hotel) on the south-west corner of Crown and Corrimal Streets. He also ran a coachline which carried the mails between Wollongong and Campbelltown for some time."

Sarah (nee Sutcliffe) was married to a mariner, Charles Edwards, before meeting John Makin after her first husband died.

It's understood she had no children with Charles but married John in 1871 and went on to have at least 10 kids - five sons and five daughters together.

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Jocelyn is on the belief several of their own children may have died by illness or stillbirth, while some moved away from their parents in teenage years including returning to Wollongong (which becomes apparent during newspaper reports from their murder trial).

Sarah was a registered midwife, John didn't seem to work much.

Before moving to Sydney, Bulli historian Mick Roberts said the pair lived in John's uncle's pub - the Settlers Arms on the corner of Crown and Keira Streets (later demolished to make way for the mall).

It's understood it was John who changed the name of the pub to the Royal Alfred Hotel but his tenure was short lived.

Mick wrote on his website TimeGents.com, a senior police sergeant claimed the hotel was conducted improperly and was disorderly with Makin accused of selling liquor illegally.

In 1873 John and his wife migrated to Sydney's inner west where scandal followed.

"This awful crime would shock Australia, and brought horror and embarrassment to the well-respected Makin family in the Illawarra," Mick said.

John and Sarah made themselves out to be a respectable family with a love for babies.

Despite moving around to different rental properties and unsuspectingly going by different aliases, the family would help the plights of a number of unmarried mothers seeking care for their babies - a common practice at the time called "baby farming".

Replying to advertisements placed in local papers, a court found John and Sarah would pledge to look after various children for payment.

In June 1892, they responded to an ad by single mother Amber Murray who desperately needed someone to take care of her newborn Horace.

The Makins, then living at George Street in Redfern were delighted to do so for a fee, though signed documents revealed Amber had left the baby in the care of "Mr J Hill".

Days after Horace was picked up by daughter Blanche Makin, the family moved to Macdonaldtown, before them moving on to Chippendale. But what they left behind at their rental ultimately led to their undoing.

In 1892 workers digging in the yard of a terrace when he made the gruesome discovery of foul-smelling bundles of baby clothing and realising it was the remains of two infants.

The police were called, more bodies were uncovered from this property and others - one was confirmed to be that of Horace.

Police investigations traced them all back to the baby farmers, John and Sarah.

In total, the remains of fifteen infants were uncovered by police, buried in the yards of homes where the Makins had lived.

The couple were tried and found guilty in March 1893 and both were sentenced to death, though Sarah Makin's sentence was reduced to life imprisonment - though both protested their innocence.

John was hanged in August 1893 while Sarah served 18-and-a-half years of her sentence before early release in April 1911 to live with her daughters.

In 2008 a musical opened at the Seymour Centre, The Hatpin Murders, based on gruesome story.

The Makins become synonymous with the phrase "Macdonaldtown murderers", but all that remains of Macdonaldtown is the name of a train station, with the suburb renamed Eskineville in 1893.

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