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Woman doing laundry at the Parramatta Female Factory c1844

By
Edward Winstanley
From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[a2255004 / DL PXX 66]
(detail from 'Ways and Means or the Last Shift, cartoon featuring Parramatta Female Factory c1844') (Dixson Library))

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Parramatta Female Factory
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Convicts Domestic economy Women Women's prisons
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Parramatta Female Factory
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Female Factory

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Winstanley, Edward

State Library of New South Wales

Parramatta Female Factory

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.

Convicts

Domestic economy

Women

Women's prisons

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.

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Female Factory

Assignment depot which also operated as refuge, workhouse, prison and marriage bureau for unassigned convict women who were classified by a three class system which determined their level of employment or punishment.

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