Parramatta Female Factory Precinct

About

Welcome to the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct blog where you will find information and news about Australia's foremost historic site associated with women and children.

Where is the Precinct located?

The Precinct is located in the heart of Western Sydney about 3kls north of the Parramatta CBD on approximately 56 acres of land bounded by the Parramatta River, Fleet Street, New Street and the Parramatta Gaol…google map

What historic sites does the Precinct include?

The historic institutions of the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct represent two adjoining sites namely, the convict Female Factory (1821 -1847), later the Parramatta Lunatic Asylum and now Cumberland Hospital (1847 onwards) and the Roman Catholic Orphan School (1841 - 1886), later the Parramatta Girls Home (1887 - 1983) and now the Norma Parker Centre – together these sites feature more than 72 buildings, built landforms, structural features, intact sub-floor deposits, open deposits and scatters and individual artifacts.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Greens motion for heritage listing of Parramatta Female Factory Precinct

A Greens motion calling for the national heritage nomination for listing of the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct, Australia's oldest existing female convict ...more

Parramatta's historic properties under threat from development

Distrust over proper community consultation for the masterplan of the proposed North Parramatta arts/heritage precinct that brings together the jail ...more

Lord Mayor John Chedid's thoughts on Parramatta heritage sites

IN light of concern over the preservation of Parramatta's heritage, The Parramatta Advertiser posed some questions to Lord Mayor John Chedid....read article

Friday, August 17, 2012

Master Plan for Parramatta heritage precinct approved

Master plan for Parramatta heritage precinct approved | Parramatta Advertiser 17 Aug 2012
PARRAMATTA'S heritage precinct is one step closer to being preserved with Premier Barry O'Farrell giving approval for a master plan for the site today. The site, which includes Parramatta Gaol, Parramatta Female Factory, Parramatta Girls Home, Cumberland Hospital and the old King's School, has been slowly deteriorating for many years. Mr O'Farrell announced his approval of the master plan at today's State of the Region address at Rosehill Gardens...more

A $1b blueprint for the west | NEWS.com.au. A $1 BILLION masterplan to breathe new life into publicly owned sites in Parramatta was unveiled yesterday, a project that could create thousands of jobs.....The Old King's School site, Parramatta Jail, Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta Park, The Female Factory (Norma Park Centre), The Old Catholic Orphanage ...

Friday, August 10, 2012

Here's our hidden history

Federal Minister Tony Burke who's portfolio covers heritage, did not bring promises to protect Parramatta's colonial past when he visited the city last week....... "What I have seen here today is one of the best kept secrets in Sydney....and I was not across the extent to which the Australian story lives here in Parramatta".......more Here's our hidden history

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Pollies vie to save precinct

Parramatta Advertiser 2 August 2012
THE Parramatta Female Factory Precinct has a long history as a place of confinement, for women, children, juvenile offenders, and people with mental health conditions. The precinct is found on Fleet St, with some parts continuing to be used - such as the Cumberland Hospital site - while others have been left derelict, such as the site of the first children's hospital in Australia....more

History and High Rise can sit side by side

Parramatta Sun 2 August 2012
Parramatta's history as colonial Australia's capital will be strengthened when state and federal governments announce plans to attract tourists and protect the city's most sacred sites today. The plans include a heritage trail that would link the Female Factory, Parramatta Jail, the Roman Catholic Orphan School, the Old King's School, Old Government House and river sites.....more

Landmarks in social history

With the end of convict transportation to the NSW colony in 1840 Australians began to distant themselves from their convict origins and places such as the convict Female Factory were forgotten. It is not surprising that the Female Factory was re-adapted as a lunatic asylum - after all who but the insane would tolerate living with the memories of convictism and our penal past. Equally this was the lot of orphaned or neglected children in their confinement in the precinct's later institutions, the Roman Catholic Orphan School and later Parramatta Girls Home. The mad, bad and sad were not to be heard, nor seen.They did not matter.

In 1988 Australia celebrated its bicentenary. Australians began to find long forgotten convict ancestors. This decade brought with it major reforms in health, education, welfare and justice. The institutions of the Parramatta Female Factory were shaken up - the Parramatta Girls Home closed; the Psychiatric Hospital's were emptied out.

1997 a watershed year when the Stolen Generations Report was handed down. Australians were now confronted with the truth of injustices visited upon the aboriginal people of this country. This year also marked the introduction of the Human Rights Equal Opportunity Commission - the beginnings of equal rights for women, children and indigenous people.

In 2004 the Forgotten Australians Report was handed down. the report found that upwards and possibly more than 500,000 Australians experienced institutional or out-of-home 'care' as children in the last century. Prominent in testimonies given were accounts of the cruelty and abuse endured by girls committed to the Parramatta Girls Home and its annex, the Hay Girls Institution.

The institutions of the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct are no longer a hidden history of Australia. Please help us preserve this history.

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