Siân Halcrow – The Conversation

Some of the babies from by the medical school at the University of Otago were acquired from the Home of Compassion in Island Bay in Wellington. It was a home for foundlings who were abandoned, illegitimate and disabled children. Home of Compassion Archives

June 29, 2026

Medical museums often display infant remains – how they were acquired was frequently harrowing and involved eugenic thinking

Siân Halcrow, University of Otago and Rebecca Gowland, Durham University

The inequality, stigma and eugenic thinking that led to their acquisition is often obscured or erased.

ryasick/Getty Images

December 9, 2024

Forgotten histories: what fetal and baby remains in medical collections tell us about inequality

Siân Halcrow, University of Otago; Megan Southorn, University of Otago, and Stephie Rose Lončar, University of Otago

Our new analysis of the skeletal remains and records of babies in a NZ museum collection shows they were largely born to unmarried mothers or lower-class families.

Contact Siân for