Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

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.