Baby Farming Murderess | 2016
On the 15th January 1894, Frances Lydia Alice Knorr was executed for murdering two babies while 'baby farming', an old-fashioned term used to describe the practice of adopting or caring for illegitimate or unwanted children for money.

She was hanged in the Old Melbourne Goal, where her death mask remains on display.

Iranian composer Gelareh Pour sat in the exact spot where Frances Knorr was put to death in order to compose this piece for Soundproof. For Gelareh the story is not so much about the past, as it is about the present. Baby farming still happens in Iran today. A child born without a father cannot be registered. Meaning it does not exist. So babies, in this corner of the world, continue to be sold. Who knows how many there are.

In this piece 'the baby farming murderess' you will hear traditional Persian instruments being played against a backdrop of first hand eyewitness accounts of the hanging of Frances Knorr.

Gelareh Pour is an Iranian-born, Melbourne based musician who specialises in Persian music. She’s been playing since she was 10. Now, she performs with bands, often singing her own compositions and playing her particular blend of traditional Persian instruments. She plays across cultures, connecting the old world with the new, while finding every nature has its own sound.

Composer: Gelareh Pour

Actor: Belinda McClory / Paul Canlan

Producer: Lyn Gallacher

Sound Engineer: Tim Symonds