Children of Australian incest 'cult' found living deformed and mute in valley Left to their own devices, the children mutilated cats and dogs All local townsfolk knew of them was occasional visits to a shop The ragtag children born into a horrifying incest 'cult' in Australia spent their days having sex and mutilating the genitals of their animals, it emerged today. New disturbing secrets have emerged that shed more light on what happened in the remote homestead discovered in a picturesque New South Wales valley. Investigators found unwashed children born from generations of incest lived there suffering from physical deformities in a 'cult' of 40 adults and youngsters. The cult engaged in a sexual 'free-for-all' where brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts had sex with one another over four generations. Left to their own devices, the children engaged in sexual activity and mutilated animals on the secluded plot of land 20 miles from the nearest town. All local townsfolk knew of them was occasional visits by a woman driving a four-wheel drive car who turned up from time to time with children in the back to buy a few items. They didn't even know their names. It is thought some family members had sold firewood and two of the men had worked as council labourers to earn money for the group. The family - referred to by the authorities as 'Colt' to protect the children's identities - lived a life of depravity under the eye of the family matriarch, Betty Colt. It is believed they had fled three other Australian states to avoid being uncovered before coming to rest in rural New South Wales. When the girls became pregnant, they would deliberately miscarry on the farm to avoid the suspicions of doctors or health professionals. The women claimed outsiders had fathered their children - itinerant men, a wheat worker, a Swedish backpacker. But DNA tests taken from swabs when they were found told otherwise. The family told authorities the saga started in New Zealand, in the first half of last century when June Colt was born to parents who were brother and sister. June married a man referred to as Tim and in the 1970s the couple emigrated to Australia, news.com.au reported. The family would then move, several times, between South Australia, Western Australia, and Victoria, usually living in remote rural communities, shying away from public knowledge about the truth. A complex family tree then started to take shape. Tim and June gave birth to four daughters and two sons. Three of the daughters - Rhonda, 47, Betty, 46, and Martha, 33, and at least one of the sons, Charlie, form the elder members of the family group in the NSW bush camp. Betty had 13 children and claimed their father was a man called Phil Walton, now dead, who was known to the family as Tim. But genetic tests show one of her children, Bobby, 15, was fathered either by her father, whose name was Tim, or the brother she was sleeping with. Four more of Betty's children were fathered by a close family member. Betty's eldest child, Raylene, now aged 30, has a 13-year-old daughter, Kimberly. Raylene insists Kimberly's father is a man called Sven, from Sweden or Switzerland. Testing identifies Kimberly's father as either her half brother, an uncle or a grandfather. The children were raised in squalid conditions who themselves grew up to become intimate and have more inbred children. Incapable of intelligible speech, some of the children were found with oddly-formed features as the result of being born to parents who were themselves related. Ruth, seven, who could not hear or write and had fragmented and stunted speech, was unable to bathe or dry herself and did not know how to use a toilet or what toilet paper was. Ruth and Nadia said Albert, Jed and Karl showed them pornographic magazines, touched their breasts and Albert had sexual intercourse with them. Kimberly said she had oral sex with her uncle Dwayne, nine, while her auntie Carmen, eight, watched. Her mother Raylene had been aware of the incident. Sisters Ruth and Nadia, nine, had sexual touching with their brothers Albert, 15; Jed, 14; and Karl, 12. Albert, Jed, Karl, Bobby and Billy also admitted they tortured animals, including puppies and cats. Carmen said her father was her uncle Charlie. Sickening details of generations of child abuse were published by news.com.au, drawing on a judgement from the New South Wales Children's Court which, in a rare step, agreed to make its findings public. Kimberly was underweight and could not clean her teeth, use toilet paper or comb her hair. Along the way one of Betty's daughters, Tammy, 27, died from a rare genetic disease known as Zellweger syndrome.