Their Punishment. Their Courage. Their Resistance.
Behind the sandstone walls of the Parramatta Female Factory, thousands of convict women experienced strict discipline, hard labour and punishment. But they also resisted, challenged authority and fought against the conditions imposed upon them.
The Parramatta Female Factory riots were among the most significant acts of resistance by convict women in colonial Australia.
Between 1821 and 1848, thousands of women lived and worked behind the Factory’s sandstone walls. Many faced harsh punishment, forced labour, head-shaving and solitary confinement.
But these women did not always accept their treatment. They protested, refused to work, broke through prison walls and challenged colonial authorities.
Six recorded disturbances between 1827 and 1843 reveal their courage, determination and desire for fairer treatment. [1, 2]
Punishment at the Parramatta Female Factory
Under early Superintendent Francis Oakes, women were distinguished between a privileged or merit class and a criminal class.
During the administration of Elizabeth Fulloon, later known as Elizabeth Raine, a more formal three-class system was established under colonial regulations in the mid-1820s.
The women were increasingly segregated into separate accommodation, working areas and yards, with different clothing, rations and privileges.
First Class — The Privileged or Merit Class
Women in First Class were generally considered suitable for assignment to private employers or eligible to apply for marriage.
They performed work including sewing, spinning and other textile production. They received comparatively better clothing and rations and enjoyed limited privileges unavailable to women in the punishment class.
Second Class — The Working and Probationary Class
Second Class included women undergoing probation, those returned from assignment and some mothers with children.
These women undertook laundry, cloth manufacturing, sewing and other institutional work.
A sentence of laundry labour was sometimes described by colonial magistrates as being “sent to the tub.”
Second Class women were generally confined within the Factory and had fewer privileges than First Class.
Third Class — The Criminal or Penitentiary Class
Third Class was reserved for women sentenced for colonial offences, repeated misconduct or breaches of Factory regulations.
They were separated from the other classes, received inferior rations and clothing, and were required to perform hard labour.
Their punishments could include head-shaving, solitary confinement, restricted diets and other humiliating disciplinary measures. [2, 3]
Hard Labour for Female Convicts
For Third Class women, work was often deliberately exhausting.
They were required to perform tasks including:
- Breaking stones: Reducing sandstone and other rock into smaller pieces for use in road construction and maintenance around Parramatta.
- Picking oakum: Unravelling old ship’s rope into individual fibres for reuse in caulking wooden vessels.
- Chopping firewood: Preparing fuel for the Factory’s kitchens, heating and laundry operations.
- Laundry and domestic work: Washing, scrubbing and maintaining clothing and linen under strict supervision.
Some stone-breaking involved material supplied by male convict work gangs and stonemasons.
In the years following their arrival in 1838–39, the Sisters of Charity advocated replacing physically punishing work with more productive occupations, particularly laundry and needlework.
Their intervention reflected growing concern about the treatment of women within the Factory. [4, 5]
Head-Shaving and Female Convict Punishment
Among the most dreaded punishments was the forcible cutting of women’s hair.
From 1826, women entering Third Class were required to have their hair closely cropped. The procedure could be repeated on scheduled haircutting days.
Long hair was regarded as an important symbol of femininity and respectability. Removing it publicly identified a woman as belonging to the punishment class and could affect her prospects of employment and marriage.
Contemporary records reveal how strongly women opposed this practice.
In 1831, the Sydney Monitor even reported allegations that women’s hair was being sold by someone associated with the Factory.
The women’s resistance to head-shaving became a central cause of the March 1833 riot. [3, 6]
Solitary Confinement at the Female Factory
The original Factory contained a small number of punishment cells, including paired cells used for confinement.
Women could be sentenced to solitary confinement for breaches of discipline, sometimes on restricted rations of bread and water.
As the number of prisoners increased, the colonial government sought more secure accommodation.
In 1838, Governor George Gipps authorised construction of a new three-storey penitentiary containing 72 cells, completed in September 1839.
Designed around the principles of separation and silence, the building had 36 small, dark cells on the ground floor and 36 cells on the upper two floors.
The design used restricted entrances, enclosed galleries and controlled access to isolate prisoners.
The lower cells were criticised for inadequate light and ventilation, and additional windows were subsequently ordered.
The new Gipps Penitentiary made punishment more severe. Its 72 cells allowed women to be locked away from one another. The building was designed to enforce silence and isolation. [7]
Other Punishments and Restrictions
Factory records and historical research identify other forms of discipline and public humiliation.
Women could be demoted between classes, confined on bread and water, deprived of privileges or required to wear distinctive punishment clothing.
PFFF historical research also refers to a “cap of disgrace” and records an instance of a woman being chained to a log.
In October 1826, convict Isabella Lloyd was sentenced after escaping the Female Factory, with records describing the use of a log and chain around her ankle.
Heavy iron collars, sometimes fitted with spikes, were used as punishments elsewhere within the Australian convict system. Whether they were used at the Parramatta Female Factory remains a subject requiring further documentary research.
Although the treadmill was discussed as a possible punishment at Parramatta, no evidence has yet established that one was installed at the Female Factory. [3, 8]
Parramatta Female Factory Riots: Six Acts of Resistance
1. 27 October 1827 — The Fight Against Reduced Rations
The first and most famous riot followed reductions in the Third Class women’s tea and sugar allowances under Matron Elizabeth Fulloon, then known as Mrs Raine.
When the new Matron, Ann Gordon, withdrew additional bread and sugar rations, approximately 200 women refused to accept the punishment.
Armed with tools, they forced open the Factory gates and entered the streets ‘like bees from a hive’ and surrounding countryside of Parramatta, seeking food. The Newspapers described the women’s violent attack on the shops like “Amazonian Banditti”
Soldiers of the 57th Regiment and constables were called to restore order. Contemporary newspapers described women returning with bread and meat in their aprons.
The riot is remembered as an important early example of collective resistance by women to working and living conditions in colonial Australia. [9]
2. 3 February 1831 — Resistance to Institutional Discipline
An estimated 600 women participated in the February 1831 disturbance.
Women in Third Class abandoned their work, damaged internal barriers and attempted to break through the Factory’s gates.
Contemporary accounts describe an attack upon a strict female overseer whose hair was cut, reflecting wider grievances concerning discipline and head-shaving.
Constables and soldiers intervened to prevent the women from escaping.
Women identified as ringleaders subsequently received additional sentences, and approximately 37 were sent to Newcastle for punishment.
Among them was Honora Harrington, who later established a family in the Hunter Valley. [10]
3. 29 November 1831 — Another Act of Defiance
A further, smaller disturbance was recorded in November 1831.
Although its precise causes and the number of women involved are less clearly documented, local historical accounts indicate that some participants were punished by solitary confinement.
This episode demonstrates that unrest continued after the major February riot and that the underlying tensions between the women and the Factory authorities had not disappeared.
Further research into contemporary gaol and Colonial Secretary records may reveal more about the women involved. [11]
4. 7 March 1833 — The Riot Against Head-Shaving
The March 1833 riot was directly associated with the women’s refusal to submit to the compulsory cutting of their hair.
Women in Third Class reportedly refused work, broke spinning wheels and gathered stones and other objects.
The Reverend Samuel Marsden, a member of the Factory’s governing committee, entered the yard with Dr Matthew Anderson.
They were met by stones thrown by the women.
Approximately 40 soldiers were called to assist the constables. The resistance was eventually suppressed, the women’s hair was cut and further punishments followed.
Marsden’s surviving correspondence provides a remarkable contemporary account of the confrontation. [6, 12]
5. October 1836 — Resistance to Forced Marching
A disturbance reported in the Sydney Gazette on 11 October 1836 followed changes to the punishment regime.
Instead of allowing Third Class women to remain in their usual working arrangements, officials required them to march repeatedly around a circular course at a brisk pace.
The women resisted the new discipline, and a revolt followed.
6. February 1843 — The Revolt Against Solitary Confinement
A major disturbance occurred in February 1843 when Superintendent Thomas Bell ordered selected women into solitary confinement following information about a possible escape.
According to a contemporary newspaper report, more than 300 women rushed into the outer yard and attacked the gates.
Police and soldiers forced them back into the inner yard, where the women barricaded themselves and resisted until the following morning.
The women said their actions were intended to secure the release of their companions from the cells.
Approximately twenty alleged ringleaders were subsequently committed to gaol, while others received periods of solitary confinement.
The revolt demonstrated the continuing solidarity and determination of women challenging the Factory’s disciplinary authority. [14]
How Convict Women Resisted Authority
Not all acts of resistance involved large groups of women.
Some refused to work, challenged their employers, escaped from assignment, broke Factory regulations or attempted to climb the sandstone walls.
Alice Leonard, an Irish convict from Donegal, became known for repeatedly escaping over the Factory walls. Her story illustrates the extraordinary determination of individual women to challenge confinement.
Others used petitions, complaints and appeals to the magistrates to seek better treatment or the return of their children.
Their experiences remind us that convict women were not simply passive subjects of the colonial system. They found many ways to assert their independence and challenge authority. [3, 15]
Why the Parramatta Female Factory Riots Matter
The Parramatta Female Factory was a place of employment, shelter, childbirth and institutional care, but also confinement, punishment and resistance.
Its surviving buildings, sandstone walls and penitentiary yards provide a powerful reminder of the women who endured these experiences.
Their actions raise important questions about justice, dignity, working conditions and the treatment of women within colonial society.
Their history is more than a story of punishment. It is a story of courage, determination, solidarity and resistance.
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Learn more about the women who resisted authority and the remarkable events that unfolded within the Female Factory.
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Historical Sources and Endnotes
- Australian Government, Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct, National Heritage List.
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/parks-heritage/heritage/places/national/parramatta-female-factory-and-institutions-precinct - Museums of History NSW, Female Factory, Parramatta. Includes the 1826 class regulations and archival punishment returns.
https://mhnsw.au/guides/female-factory-parramatta/ - Parramatta Female Factory — Crime and Punishment, PFFF-related historical research; and City of Parramatta, Parramatta Female Factory, visitor history.
https://parramattafemalefactoryherstoryourstory.wordpress.com/parramatta-female-factory/crimes-punishment/
https://atparramatta.com/discover/history-and-heritage/historical-places/parramatta-female-factory - Anne Mathews, interview with Michelle Goodman, 12 December 2017, published by City of Parramatta, Parramatta Female Factory — Interviews with Local Historian.
https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/blog/2018/06/29/female-factory-audio-transcripts - J. Atkinson, The History of the Origin and Establishment of the Catholic Church in Australasia (1879), p. 296, concerning the Sisters of Charity and their advocacy for different forms of women’s work. Discussed in subsequent scholarship on colonial nursing and religious institutions.
- The Sydney Monitor, 1 June 1831, p. 3, report on the sale of women’s hair; and Gay Hendriksen, Trudy Cowley and Carol Liston, Women Transported: Life in Australia’s Convict Female Factories (2008).
https://femalefactoryonline.org/about/history/parramatta-female-factory/ - City of Parramatta, The Second Female Factory: 1818–1848. Construction of the Gipps cell block, completed September 1839.
https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/blog/2015/07/28/the-second-parramatta-female-factory-1818-1848 - The Old Parramattan, Isabella Lloyd, including her October 1826 log-and-chain sentence; PFFF Newsletter No. 42, November–December 2021, research on treadmills.
https://theoldparramattan.org/name/isabella-lloyd/
https://www.parramattafemalefactoryfriends.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/PFFF-NEWSLETTER-42-NOV-DEC-2021.pdf - Trove: Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 31 October 1827, p. 2, “Riot at the Female Factory”; David Kent, “Customary Behaviour Transported: A Note on the Female Factory Riot of 1827”, Journal of Australian Studies 18, no. 40 (1994), pp. 75–79.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2189269
https://rune.une.edu.au/entities/publication/8909e227-1c9a-4d5b-a09a-173fbb0684ad - Trove: The Sydney Monitor, 5 February 1831, p. 3, “Female Insurrection at the Factory”; Newcastle Gaol records, NRS-2372; Cheryl Ryan, Life of Honora Harrington, family history research.
- Parramatta Female Factory Friends, Newsletter No. 17, September–October 2017, “It’s a Riot! Not One, But Six!”; City of Parramatta, Anne Mathews interview, Episode 6.
https://www.parramattafemalefactoryfriends.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PFFF-NEWSLETTER-17-SEP-OCT-2017.pdf - Reverend Samuel Marsden to Alexander Macleay, 7 March 1833; reproduced in PFFF Newsletter No. 17 and discussed in Women Transported (2008), pp. 42–43.
- Trove: Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 11 October 1836, p. 2. Contemporary report describing forced marching, rebellion, confinement and discussion of a possible treadmill.
- Trove: The Sun and New South Wales Independent Press, 25 February 1843, p. 2, “Female Factory”. Contemporary account of the February disturbance; transcription in PFFF research, Riots at the Parramatta Female Factory — Overview.
- Michaela Ann Cameron, Parramatta Female Factory, Female Factory Online; City of Parramatta, historical account of individual escapes and punishment.
https://femalefactoryonline.org/about/history/parramatta-female-factory/