Sinister ‘incest farm’ in Australia’s outback where patriarch oversaw generations of interbreeding 

They were discovered living in seclusion and squalor in a filthy remote block deep in the countryside with no running water, sanitation or electricity.

The 40-strong Colt family, a pseudonymous surname, enjoyed being socially remote and extremely difficult to access – often changing locations to avoid detection.

They were finally discovered by authorities living on a farm near the town of Boorowa, 150 km north of Canberra in New South Wales, Australia, in 2012.

It came after an accidental remark in a schoolyard by one of the family’s young children, most of whom attended little or no school at all, were severely malnourished and did not speak intelligible English.

A trial involving an uncle found guilty of raping his then-17-year-old niece, who was also his sister, would reveal further shocking details of rampant incestuous activity and neglect committed in secret for decades.

According to the New South Wales Children’s Court, the family is said to be descended from a brother and sister in New Zealand.

The siblings were the parents of June Colt, who would marry Tim Colt in 1966 before the couple emigrated to Australia.

They would go on to have seven children together, but Tim also fathered up to 16 children with two of his five daughters.

Incestuous activities continued from generation to generation, with Tim’s other daughters and granddaughters having sex with their brothers, uncles and cousins.

The children then grew up with deformities, including low-hanging ears, misaligned eyes, and appeared to look much older than they should.

Despite the fact that girls and women often get pregnant, the Colt family has never caught the attention of doctors.

The family would move between rural parts of Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales to avoid social services detection.

After the death of patriarch Tim in 2009, in 2012 they went to live on a remote farm in a bush block in New South Wales.

Authorities would later discover that it contained an uninsulated shed, old caravans and tents with no toilets or shower facilities.

Inside the tents were thin mattresses to sleep on, which the children said would be raped by relatives.

Local Police Superintendent Stephen Radford described foul-smelling urine and faeces in living quarters, adding that there were no toilets or showers in the “commune-style living arrangement.”

Nurses, doctors and social workers were also shocked and traumatized as they assessed conditions at the site.

The squalid farm housed seven adults and more than 30 children, who slept in a series of tents, sheds and shelters with electrical wires connected to a generator.

A plasma TV was found in the family’s shed, along with pegs for hanging the children’s backpacks.

The family kept animals on the farm, including ponies, rabbits, cats and dogs, but many were mutilated.

A dozen children were turned over to social services in 2013 following a judgment by a children’s court, which heard evidence that all but one were products of incest.

Authorities found that the related children themselves were allegedly involved in rampant sexual activity, according to court documents.

They were found to have a speech delay and were years behind in school, some of which had never been at all.

However, some still tried to escape and spoke of their desire to be reunited with their mother, saying they could not fit into mainstream society.

Each child has since been given court-issued pseudonyms to hide their identities.

Further details of the family came to light when Frank Colt, a pseudonym, was accused in 2018 of sexually abusing his niece and half-sister, the same person.

The attack occurred during a visit to the family farm near Yass in February 2010 – two years before the farm was discovered by authorities.

Both Frank and the victim were children of their father Tim and sister Betty.

The victim told police she lived in a cult where “all my aunts, uncles and cousins ​​slept together.”

She also claimed she had never attended school, was legally blind, and was physically abused by members of her family.

The family tree, meanwhile, shows there were four known generations that lived together, including four children who would have been the great-grandchildren (and grandchildren) of Patriarch Tim.

Frank was found guilty of rape in June 2020 – more than two years after his initial arrest.

Once the children were taken into care, they told officials about horrific sexual abuse by adults and by siblings on the isolated farms, of children as young as 12.

Many did not know how to brush their teeth, slept in dirty beds between cigarette butts and rotting food, could not wash their hair or use toilet paper, and had facial deformities.

But after being placed in foster care, matriarch Betty was found guilty of two charges related to the authorities’ attempted kidnapping of two of her children and served time in jail.

Martha more recently reunited with her three sons in adulthood and has posted photos of herself with them on Facebook.

It is unlikely that the true extent of the family’s incestuous activity will ever be fully known.

It seems this is also the case for some of the younger members of the family, who have taken to social media to ask questions about their horrific past.

This month Ruth, one of the youngest members of the family and now about 19, popped up on social media, posting about her loneliness, how she misses her siblings and directly questioning the man who is believed to be both her father and uncle. is.

She wrote to a man she thought was her father: “Hello. Are you and mummy brother and sister?’

She then wrote, “Do you know who my father is?” and ‘hi uncle how are you’.

Ruth’s mother Martha and her aunt Betty were the matriarchs of the clan. The young woman was only nine when her family’s terrible secret came to light.