The Colt Clan

The Colt clan is not a group of Colt Gun enthusiasts. It’s actually an Australian family that has less forks in their family tree than a chopstick factory. So today I will be sharing the case of the Tim Colt Family, please bear with me, this one may be a bit rough.

In the 1970’s Tim and June Colt moved from New Zealand with their seven children; Martha, Frank, Paula, Cherry, Rhonda, Betty, and Charlie. June was the daughter of a brother/sister incest, and Betty was raped by Tim starting at the age of 12. Betty had asked June to donate a kidney and then realized that her mother was the product of inbreeding.

As the family grew, eventually to forty members, grandparents, parents, sons and daughters, even extended family uncles, aunts, and cousins. They ALL engaged in various forms of incest. Which resulted in many deformities and medical problems. The only time that the children attended school was when the welfare officers visited.

The case of the Colt family was something that was unheard of, in fact it resulted in the courts to allow the entire case files to be made public, albeit the names of the kids and the family name were changed for protection. “Colt” was not their real surname, it was a name provided by the courts.

The family had no hesitation to regularly engage in sexual activities, which produced more children. Sometimes the propagating was done between siblings, parent and child, or even between cousins. Many times the girls would try to hide pregnancies by “miscarrying” while on the farm. Or they claimed that the father of the child was an outsider who had recently arrived in Australia. To make things even more disgusting, the girls were often tied to trees and raped by the boys.

The family also lived in squalor. They had no access to running water, showers, toilets or hygiene products. They normally resided in tents and shacks. June passed away in 2001, and Tim passed away in 2009. The family then was led by Betty Colt. Betty and her younger brother Charlie, had twelve children together.

Knowledge of the family came to authorities in June 2010, which led to seven “risk of significant harm” reports. However, an official investigation was not opened until July 2012 when a child reported overhearing another child at a local primary school speaking of an unkempt girl, living in the bush, who was pregnant with a child fathered by a brother. The child overheard the girl state that one of her sisters was pregnant and they did not know which of her brothers was the father.

Over the next year, police tracked the family down and, after obtaining an understanding of the living conditions in the family’s encampment, put several children in foster care, including Bobby (Betty’s son with her younger brother) and Billy (Betty’s son with her older son).

The authorities filed charges to remove the minor children, and eventually all the children were in foster care, permanently. Betty would not be able to regain custody of any of the children at any time. After a short time of living away from the family, the children slowly stopped being overly sexual with each other and with their caregivers.

Unfortunately the photos that I attempted to find, were all blurred to protect the identity of those that were pictured. The “Colt” family do still exist in Australia, and Betty still tries to contact other family members.

What are your thoughts about the Colt family and their family history, tree, and relationships?

Stay Curious my Friends!