Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Parramatta Female Factory

Accommodation for unassigned convict women sent to the colony, which became a workhouse, marriage bureau and hospital. This multiplicity of roles made it difficult to administer and it quickly evolved from a place of refuge into a prison.

-33.803075984512, 151.00002053897

Milestone
Constructed
1818 - 1821
Opened
1821
Name
Alternate
Parramatta Lunatic Asylum
1849 - 1901
Alternate
Parramatta Psychiatric Hospital
1901 - 1960
Alternate
Cumberland Hospital
1983 -
Position
1818 - 1821
1818 - 1821
Property
Part of
Part of
Part of
Occupied by
1821 - 1848
Occupied by
1849 - 1983
Type

Parramatta Female Factory

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2015

The Parramatta Female Factory is the largest and oldest surviving convict women's site in Australia. Operating between 1821 and 1848, it was a refuge for women and children, elderly and sick women; a marriage bureau; a place of assignment and moral reform; a penitentiary; a women's hospital for the convicted as well as the free; and a workhouse - all rolled into one.