![[object Object]](https://images.mhnsw.au/fotoweb/embed/2026/06/298f740ec6794dddaf9aacfad618bdca.jpg)
Parramatta Female Factory
About the building
Female factories were colonial institutions for the management, discipline and reform of female convicts transported to Australia. In 1818, Governor Macquarie ordered the construction of the Parramatta Female Factory, a purpose-built institution large enough to accommodate 300 female convicts. Architect Francis Greenway designed a three-storey, barrack-style complex that served as a factory, refuge, marriage bureau, hospital and place of punishment. Between 1821 and 1848, thousands of women and children passed through the institution.
The hospital, which opened as a lying-in (maternity) hospital and infirmary and treated both convict and free women, was the first dedicated women’s health service in the Australian colonies. The factory manufactured linen, wool and linsey-wolsey cloth, including for export.
In 1826, the two-storey penitentiary barracks opened. It was specially designed to house Third Class female convicts – women who had committed an offence in the colony. They were confined and punished and undertook hard labour. The building’s small louvred porthole windows, which restricted light and views from the crowded dormitories, hint at the harsh and punitive intent of the original design.
Transportation ceased in 1840, and by 1848 the Parramatta Female Factory was no longer needed. It was replaced by the Parramatta Lunatic Asylum, which evolved into what is known today as Cumberland Hospital. The former convict hospital and the penitentiary barracks remain (although heavily modified), while the other convict buildings were demolished to make way for new hospital wards and landscaped gardens. As a result, much of the precinct looks and feels like a late-19th-century hospital.
Built
1818–26
Architect
Original site and hospital: Francis Greenway. Penitentiary barracks: architect unknown
Acknowledgements
The participation of the Parramatta Female Factory has been made possible by Property and Development NSW
Parramatta Female Factory
5 Fleet Street, North Parramatta
Entry details
Attendees will have access to the Female Factory Hospital and Third Class Penitentiary Building, which are not normally open to the public
10am–4pm
3.45pm
Need to know
Accessible featuresThere is access via a ramp into the building. There is a small step at the entry to the verandah. Assistance animals are welcome
Toilets availablePhotography allowed
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