We had a most interesting presentation by writer Stella Budrikis this week who came along to tell us about a true story that she has used as the basis for her latest book – The Edward Street Baby Farm. Stella was born in Lancashire but came to Australia with her family when she was twelve. Whilst Stella was studying to become a doctor she thoroughly enjoyed writing essays, and eventually this led her to dream about becoming a full-time writer. Stella soon realised that she preferred non-fiction. Apart from producing two small books in pdf format (‘Faith In Crisis’ and ‘Hope In Sorrow’) Stella has a family history blog called Clogs and Clippers, and it was during the research for her book ‘Susan’ that Stella came across Alice Mitchell and the Baby Farm situation. This of course led to the writing of The Edward Street Baby Farm which was published in late 2020. Stella described the rather unappealing living conditions in Perth in the early 1900s and it was in 1907 that Perth woman Alice Mitchell was arrested for the murder of five-month-old Ethel Booth. During the inquest and subsequent trial, Western Australians were horrified to learn that at least 37 infants had died in Mitchell’s care in the previous six years. It became clear that she had been running a ‘baby farm’, making a profit out of caring for the children of single mothers and other ‘unfortunate women’. Alice Mitchell faced only one count of murder due to lack of evidence relating to the other 36 deaths, and she was sentenced to five years in Fremantle Prison. The doctor and health inspector who had supervised Alice over the years were clearly incompetent, and it all led to significant child protection law changes.