Australia’s Remarkable Surviving Female Convict Buildings
Walk among buildings and sandstone walls constructed more than 200 years ago, and discover one of Australia’s most extraordinary surviving colonial heritage sites.
The Parramatta Female Factory buildings tell a remarkable story of convict women, colonial architecture, punishment, childbirth, work and institutional life.
From the modest Factory above Parramatta Gaol in 1804 to Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s magnificent sandstone complex of 1821, the buildings reflect the changing treatment of women during Australia’s early colonial years.
Designed by some of the colony’s leading architects and built with convict labour, the Factory became one of the largest public institutions in New South Wales.
Although many original buildings have been demolished, three major convict-era buildings, extensive sandstone walls, surviving structures and archaeological remains continue to tell the women’s stories.
Their survival is remarkable — and makes the Parramatta Female Factory a place of exceptional national heritage significance. [1, 2]
The First Female Factory — 1804–1821
The Factory Above Parramatta Gaol
The first Parramatta Female Factory opened in 1804 above the colonial gaol at what is now Prince Alfred Square.
Governor Philip Gidley King arranged for an upper floor to accommodate female convicts who were unassigned, unemployed or awaiting further placement.
The accommodation consisted of two rooms, each approximately 80 feet long and 20 feet wide, providing a combined working area about 160 feet long.
There were no proper beds. Women and children slept on the floor, sometimes using raw wool or flax for bedding.
Under the direction of Scottish convict and master weaver George Mealmaker, women spun and wove cloth for the colony.
By August 1804, nine looms were operating, producing woollen cloth, linen, duck, sailcloth and sacking.
The building was overcrowded, poorly ventilated and unsuitable for accommodating women and children.
By 1816, architect Francis Greenway was reporting its inadequacies. The need for a new institution had become urgent. [3]
Macquarie’s New Female Factory — 1818–1821
Francis Greenway’s Vision
Governor Lachlan Macquarie commissioned a purpose-built Female Factory beside the Parramatta River.
The renowned colonial architect Francis Greenway, himself a former convict, prepared the design.
The principal building contractors were William Watkins and Isaac Payten, working under the direction of Chief Engineer Major George Druitt, with construction involving convict stonemasons and labourers.
Macquarie laid the foundation stone on 9 July 1818, and the new Factory opened on 1 February 1821.
The complex was designed around a substantial three-storey barracks, with courtyards, workshops, kitchens, stores, administrative quarters and a hospital.
The original scheme aimed to accommodate approximately 300 women.
The sandstone was quarried locally, and the simple Georgian design reflected Greenway’s approach to public architecture. [4]
The Great Barracks — 1821–1886
The Heart of the Female Factory
The impressive three-storey sandstone barracks dominated the original complex.
Its upper floors accommodated women in large dormitories. The ground floor included dining rooms and communal spaces.
A central staircase divided the building into two wings, while a cupola and clock provided a distinctive architectural feature.
As the class system developed, internal arrangements were changed to separate women according to their classification.
Eating arrangements also expanded into separate yards and dining areas as the population increased.
Despite its size, the barracks quickly became inadequate for the number of women entering the Factory.
Following the institution’s conversion into the Parramatta Lunatic Asylum, the old building was increasingly considered unsuitable for its new purpose.
The original Greenway barracks was demolished in 1885–1886, during major asylum reconstruction.
Its loss was considerable, but the clock and parts of the original sandstone were preserved or reused within the developing hospital precinct. [4, 5]
The Matron’s Quarters, Administration and Stores — 1821
Building C103 — Still Standing
One of the most significant surviving buildings is the original Matron’s Quarters and Administration Building, now known as Building C103.
Designed by Francis Greenway and constructed between 1818 and 1821, it formed part of the Factory’s original administrative range.
The building was associated with the Superintendent and Matron, staff accommodation, stores and administrative functions.
Here, officials managed assignments, supplies, records and the daily operation of the institution.
The building was progressively altered during the asylum years, including the addition of upper-level accommodation and roof changes during the nineteenth century.
Despite these changes, substantial early sandstone fabric survives.
Building C103 remains a rare physical connection to Macquarie’s original Female Factory. [5]
The Lying-in Hospital — 1821
Building C111 — Still Standing
Facing the administrative range is the original hospital building, now Building C111.
Designed by Francis Greenway, it formed part of the 1821 Female Factory complex.
The hospital provided care for women who were sick, pregnant or giving birth, including convict women and, during much of its history, other women in the colony.
Its Lying-in Hospital became an important early centre of women’s maternity care.
Midwives, nurses and medical attendants worked under difficult conditions, frequently facing overcrowding and inadequate facilities.
The building was altered and extended during the nineteenth century, including changes that introduced additional upper-level accommodation.
Nevertheless, important original sandstone walls and building fabric survive.
The hospital is one of the most significant surviving reminders of the thousands of mothers and children connected with the Female Factory. [5, 6]
Kitchens, Laundry and Loom Rooms — 1821
Buildings That Supported Daily Life
The original Factory included separate buildings for cooking, laundering and textile production.
The kitchens and associated service buildings provided food for women and children, while the laundry supported the institution’s daily needs.
The loom and workroom buildings accommodated spinning, weaving, sewing and the manufacture of cloth and clothing for the colony.
As the Factory grew, additional kitchens, laundries and workshops were required to serve the different classes of women.
Many of these early service buildings were demolished, rebuilt or altered during the nineteenth century.
Later asylum kitchens, laundry facilities and workrooms occupied parts of the original industrial and service landscape.
Although the original loom rooms and kitchens no longer survive in their initial form, the historic plans and archaeological remains help explain where this important work took place. [4, 5]
The Third Class Penitentiary — c.1825–1826
Building C105 — Still Standing
As the convict population increased, the government introduced more severe measures to separate women sentenced for offences committed within the colony.
Under Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane, a new Third Class Penitentiary was constructed during the mid-1820s.
The building was part of a separate walled punishment enclosure and provided accommodation for women confined under the increasingly strict class system.
Built by the Royal Engineers, the penitentiary was originally two storeys high, with small windows and limited ventilation.
It later underwent substantial changes, including the removal of its upper floor and the addition of verandahs.
Despite these alterations, Building C105 retains much of its early sandstone structure.
It is one of the most substantial surviving buildings associated directly with the punishment of female convicts in Australia. [4, 5]
The Gipps Silent Penitentiary — 1838–1839
The Seventy-Two Solitary Cells
Governor Sir George Gipps introduced another major phase of prison construction.
In June 1838, the Royal Engineers, under Captain George Barney, began building a three-storey penitentiary containing 72 solitary confinement cells.
Completed in September 1839, the building adopted a system intended to separate prisoners and enforce silence.
Its small cells, controlled entrances and restricted light reflected changing nineteenth-century approaches to punishment.
The original building was criticised for the darkness of its ground-floor cells, and additional windows were ordered.
The cell block remained in use during the later asylum period but was demolished in the 1880s.
Although the building has disappeared, its substantial surrounding sandstone walls survive in what is now known as Gipps Yard.
These walls provide a powerful reminder of the women confined within the original penitentiary. [4, 5]
The Sandstone Walls — 1818 Onwards
Two Centuries of History Written in Stone
Some of the most extraordinary surviving features are the Factory’s original sandstone walls.
Sections date from the 1818–1821 construction period, including the southern wall associated with Greenway’s original complex.
Additional walls were built throughout the 1820s and 1830s as the Factory expanded and the different classes of women were increasingly separated.
The impressive walls surrounding Gipps Yard date principally from the late 1830s, although sections were altered or rebuilt during the asylum years.
The walls preserve evidence of convict stonecutting, building methods, alterations and the changing design of the institution.
Some sandstone blocks still bear the marks of the masons who worked them.
These are not reconstructions. They are surviving elements of the colonial landscape in which the women lived, worked and were confined. [4, 5]
The Dead Houses — Death and Institutional Life
The Female Factory also required buildings where the bodies of women and children who died could be placed before burial.
Historical records confirm the existence of a dead house by the early 1830s.
Surviving structures and remains associated with the former hospital, class-separation walls and the entrance to the later Gipps Yard have also been identified as former dead-house locations.
A small structure near the entrance to the former Artisan’s Yards has been associated with a dead house dating to approximately 1838.
These places are sombre reminders of the high rates of illness and infant mortality experienced within the Factory.
Their historical significance lies not simply in their construction but in the individual lives and deaths they represent. [4, 7]
Dining Sheds and Later Asylum Buildings — 1860s
The use of the Female Factory buildings changed substantially after the institution closed in 1848 and became part of the Parramatta Lunatic Asylum.
Outdoor dining and shelter arrangements were developed and expanded to accommodate asylum patients.
Surviving nineteenth-century shelter sheds include structures dating from approximately 1860–1863. They provided covered areas where residents could eat and gather while remaining within enclosed yards.
During this period, the former Factory’s administrative and hospital buildings also underwent changes, including the addition of upper storeys and other alterations.
These developments show how the colonial buildings were adapted rather than immediately abandoned.
The surviving dining sheds and altered buildings form an important part of the precinct’s later institutional history. [5, 8]
Ward 1, Ward 2 and the Clock Tower — 1876–1885
A New Chapter in Colonial Architecture
During the 1870s and 1880s, the Parramatta Lunatic Asylum underwent extensive reconstruction.
New sandstone wards replaced older accommodation considered unsuitable for mental health care.
Construction of the male asylum’s Wards 2 and 3 began in 1876, while the imposing Ward 1, now Building C101, was constructed between approximately 1883 and 1885.
The new buildings were associated with the Colonial Architect’s Office under James Barnet.
Ward 1 incorporated sandstone from demolished sections of the earlier Female Factory complex.
Its handsome clock tower became a dominant feature of the precinct.
The Remarkable Female Factory Clock
One of the most remarkable surviving objects is the historic Thwaites and Reed turret clock, originally associated with Greenway’s Female Factory barracks.
When the original building was demolished, the clock mechanism was transferred to the new Ward 1 tower.
The original Factory clock had a single visible face, while the later tower displays several faces, indicating modifications to the original arrangement.
The clock’s continued survival provides a remarkable connection between the convict Female Factory and the later asylum.
It remains one of the site’s most recognisable heritage features. [5, 8]
Overcrowding — Buildings That Could Never Meet the Demand
Despite repeated extensions, the Parramatta Female Factory was never large enough to accommodate the women and children placed within it.
Designed around an original capacity of approximately 300 women, it soon struggled to meet growing demand.
During the 1820s and 1830s, the resident population often numbered several hundred women, with children accommodated alongside their mothers.
By the early 1840s, overcrowding had reached extraordinary levels.
Historical research records 1,203 women and 263 children in residence during the winter of 1842.
This was several times the capacity envisaged when Governor Macquarie commissioned the original building.
The consequences included cramped sleeping arrangements, inadequate facilities, pressure on the hospital, difficult working conditions and growing tension within the institution.
The repeated construction of new wards, kitchens, workshops, walls and penitentiaries never fully solved the problem. [9]
A Rare Survival in Australian History
Across Australia, female factories were established to manage convict women through employment, assignment, confinement and punishment.
Only a small number of their historic sites survive today.
The Parramatta Female Factory is particularly important because it was Australia’s earliest purpose-built Female Factory and retains substantial evidence from the early colonial period.
Its sandstone buildings, walls, courtyards and archaeological remains tell a story spanning more than two centuries of institutional history.
The site’s inclusion on the Australian National Heritage List in 2017 recognises its outstanding national significance.
Today, these surviving buildings provide an irreplaceable connection to the lives of the women and children who passed through the Factory.
Their preservation is not simply about saving old buildings. It is about protecting the physical evidence of Australian history and the stories of people whose voices were often absent from official records. [1, 2]
Discover the Buildings on a Guided Tour
Experience the remarkable surviving buildings, historic sandstone walls and former penitentiary yards of the Parramatta Female Factory.
Our trained volunteer guides explain the architecture, construction, changing uses and personal stories behind these extraordinary places.
All guided tours must be booked in advance so that a volunteer guide can be arranged.
Parramatta Female Factory Friends
5 Fleet Street, North Parramatta NSW 2151
Email: contact@parramattafemalefactoryfriends.com.au
Tours: 0456 787 252
History. HerStory. OurStory.
Many Stories. One Australia.
Historical Sources and Endnotes
- Australian Government, Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct, National Heritage List, updated 19 June 2026.
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/parks-heritage/heritage/places/national/parramatta-female-factory-and-institutions-precinct - UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct, Australian Tentative List (2023).
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6686/ - Geoff Barker, The First Female Factory, Prince Alfred Square, 1803–1821, City of Parramatta History and Heritage (2015).
https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/blog/2015/08/12/the-first-female-factory-prince-alfred-square-1803-1821 - Geoff Barker, The Second Female Factory: 1818–1848, City of Parramatta History and Heritage (2015; updated 2018).
https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/blog/2015/07/28/the-second-parramatta-female-factory-1818-1848 - Parramatta Female Factory Friends, National Heritage, including the descriptions of Buildings C101, C103, C105, C111 and surviving historic fabric, drawing on heritage conservation studies.
https://www.parramattafemalefactoryfriends.com.au/our-business/our-advocacy/national-heritage/ - City of Parramatta, The Parramatta Female Factory and Midwives — A Brief Introduction (2020).
https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/blog/2020/05/04/the-parramatta-female-factory-and-midwives-a-brief-introduction - Michaela Ann Cameron, Life and Death at the Parramatta Female Factory: Deaths in Custody, Female Factory Online, including the 1832 inquest evidence.
https://femalefactoryonline.org/essays/deaths-in-custody/ - City of Parramatta, Parramatta North, Mental Health Precinct: Timeline of European Settlement 1788–2018; and Parramatta Hospital for the Insane: Destruction of Female Factory Buildings.
https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/blog/2015/08/11/parramatta-cumberland-hospital-timeline-of-european-settlement-1788-2013
https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/research-topics/buildings-and-structures/parramatta-hospital-insane-destruction-of-female-factory-buildings-and - Gay Hendriksen and Carol Liston, Women Transported: Life in Australia’s Convict Female Factories (2008), including the overcrowding figures for 1842.
https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/sites/phh/files/field/media/file/2020-09/women-transported.pdf - Standish Lawrence Harris, Plan of Parramatta Female Factory, c.1822–1824. Mitchell Library, State Library NSW, C225–C226.
https://dictionaryofsydney.org/media/2506 - William Buchanan, Plan of the Female Factory, November 1833. The National Archives (UK), PRO MPH 91(9). Reproduced by City of Parramatta.
https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/parramatta-female-factory-bicentenary-1821-2021 - Tanner Kibble Denton Architects, Parramatta North Historic Sites: Consolidated Conservation Management Plan — Part B, Cumberland Hospital East Campus (2017).
https://www.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/sites/council/files/2022-09/PNHS%20CMP_Part%20B_Cumberland_Hospital.PDF