LAST Sunday marked the Bicentenary of the Parramatta Female Factory, an institution which operated as an assignment depot, prison, place of industry and medical facility for approximately 5,000 women and children until its closure in 1848.
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Residents of the Female Factory worked in a number of areas such as the making of cloth and linen, needlework and hat-making.
Women also worked on the operation of the factory, fulfilling housekeeping duties such as cooking and washing, with some washing duties extended to the public.
These workers were susceptible to the vagaries of the labour market in the fledgling colony, with fluctuating production costs and their labour not always in demand.
The City of Parramatta has created a website which details many of the stories of the women who passed through the Factory gates. To visit, click here.
You can download the publication "Women Transported - Life in Australia's convict female factories" which was written in 2008 to tell the story of 'the industrious women who are the foremothers of contemporary Australia'.
Read also:
There are instructions for creating period-style bonnets or cabbage-tree hats, and the music and lyrics for songs sung by the women who lived there.
Watch the story of Ann Gordon, the Factory's longest serving matron, who was the highest paid woman in the colony and wielded significant power.
Read about the history of the Female Factory site, from its first inception in 1821, re-development as the Parramatta Lunatic Asylum and the various institutions, such as the Parramatta Orphan School, which have called it home.
If you happen to be in Parramatta in the near future, why not pop in to the Parramatta Heritage Centre to view the latest display which commemorates the women of the Female Factory.
Or if not, scroll to the bottom of the webpage to see a gallery of images from the display.
