Female Factory

Australia's first female factory at Parramatta (known as the 'Factory Above the Gaol') was Governor King's attempt at finding a solution to the problem of accommodating the colony's abundance of unemployed convict women at the same time as protecting them, and the young colony, against corrupt influences. In its industrial capacity, the factory in excelled in its early years. As a refuge-cum-guardian of public morality, it fell considerably short with severe over-crowding and deteriorating buildings.

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.