Female Factory
The Cascades Female Factory is one of 11 historic convict sites recognised by World Heritage - and alas, they don't make females here.
The Female Factory replaced one of the distilleries in 1828, and the high stone walls which kept people away from the grog were equally good for imprisonment. It was damp and dark, being in South Hobart and the shadow of Mount Wellington.
Female convicts were divided into three classes and prevented from communicating. Women in first class, a reward for good behaviour, became cooks, overseers and hospital attendants. Second class was for women who had committed minor offences and they were assigned to needlework; third class washed laundry.
Convict transportation to Tasmania stopped in 1853 and the main site became a jail in 1856, although the women's prison closed in 1877 and the site was auctioned to private buyers in 1905. Three of the five yards have since been repurchased by the Tasmanian state government including the most recent, Yard 4 (shown here), in 2008. This area had a large nursery and buildings to house 80 women and 150 children, and the Matron's Quarters can be seen at the southern end. In 2014 the Female Factory attracted 28,663 visitors, up 22% from the year before. Being on the convict list makes it worth visiting, although as yet there isn't much to see.
This sort of imprisonment was probably the kind of experience that helped make Anne Summers' 'Damned Whores and God's Police (the colonisation of women in Australia) a bestseller in 1975...
Radio choices were limited, but Major Lazer, DJ Snake and MØ’s Lean On seems to be the popular hit for the summer, and the film clip has great Bollywood /Rajasthani sets: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqeW9_5kURI
Female Factory
The Cascades Female Factory is one of 11 historic convict sites recognised by World Heritage - and alas, they don't make females here.
The Female Factory replaced one of the distilleries in 1828, and the high stone walls which kept people away from the grog were equally good for imprisonment. It was damp and dark, being in South Hobart and the shadow of Mount Wellington.
Female convicts were divided into three classes and prevented from communicating. Women in first class, a reward for good behaviour, became cooks, overseers and hospital attendants. Second class was for women who had committed minor offences and they were assigned to needlework; third class washed laundry.
Convict transportation to Tasmania stopped in 1853 and the main site became a jail in 1856, although the women's prison closed in 1877 and the site was auctioned to private buyers in 1905. Three of the five yards have since been repurchased by the Tasmanian state government including the most recent, Yard 4 (shown here), in 2008. This area had a large nursery and buildings to house 80 women and 150 children, and the Matron's Quarters can be seen at the southern end. In 2014 the Female Factory attracted 28,663 visitors, up 22% from the year before. Being on the convict list makes it worth visiting, although as yet there isn't much to see.
This sort of imprisonment was probably the kind of experience that helped make Anne Summers' 'Damned Whores and God's Police (the colonisation of women in Australia) a bestseller in 1975...
Radio choices were limited, but Major Lazer, DJ Snake and MØ’s Lean On seems to be the popular hit for the summer, and the film clip has great Bollywood /Rajasthani sets: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqeW9_5kURI