Parramatta Female Factory Friends

18/01/2025

WRITERS AWARD PROGRAM - APPLY NOW

The Parramatta Female Factory Friends Inc is offering a Writer in Residence Program
in 2025. This is in acknowledgement of the World Heritage value of the Parramatta
Female Factory. Our organization is looking for a creative response to the
significance of the site and social history of the Parramatta Female Factory,
associated histories and its contribution to the Australian Identity. The sections are:
1. Writer in Residence Award $3,000
2. Highly Commended Award $1,500
3. Student Writing Award $ 500

The successful applicants will be elected by an expert panel, according to specific
criteria: historic subject relevance, originality, excellence, authenticity.

1. The Writer in Residence Award recipient will have access to the Parramatta
Female Factory Friends Research Centre by arrangement on Fridays and access to
our hard copy collection (general book collection and rare books), our digital
resources and onsite access to our research subscriptions and six months of public
programs free (talks, workshops, tours). The recipient will also receive free
Parramatta Female Factory Friends membership for one year. From research to final
product will be six months, culminating in a presentation at our Annual It’s a Riot
Day event commemoration and a written publishable result.

2. The Writer in Residence Highly Commended Award will have the same access to
the Parramatta Female Factory Friends Research Centre resources, public programs
and membership. From research to final product will be six months, culminating in a
presentation at one of our public program talks and a written publishable result.
3. The Student Writing Award will have the same access to the Parramatta Female
Factory Friends Research Centre resources, public programs and membership. The
period of the research to final product will be six months with a written publishable
result.

To apply, email us at [email protected] and we can send you an Application Form. For more information, please contact Gay Hendriksen, President and Research Coordinator on 0447189137.

17/01/2025

HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE PARRAMATTA NORTH REZONING

Parramatta Female Factory Friends,

This week was the release of the NSW State Government led rezoning plan and application.

Briefly, while respect has been shown in not putting any new buildings on the Female Factory and Institutions Precinct site, and a positive in the plans that gives some affordable housing and new green space along the Parramatta River there are serious issues to be addressed.

The rezoning plans back up against the curtilage and impinge on the Parramatta Female Factory Friends proposed buffer zone and impacts the sightlines (which are still to be determined for application for World Heritage listing) and brings the pressure of 2,000 new accommodation in units and townhouses, significantly reduces the current greenspaces, increases traffic and obvious parking issues.

Of key concern is the possible location and heights of the new buildings both in curtilage and buffer zone areas. Can we urge you as Friends of the Parramatta Female Factory to look closely at the overview and the many documents released and send your feedback as response in the Have Your Say email by the end of next week if you can.

There are some public forums, and an online webinar, so please click on the link for information on those.

There is a deadline of February 10 for comments submitted in the link - Have Your Say. We intend to send a PFFF response but as a Friend, you could also send your individual responses so that your concerns are heard. See links in this email for the information released.

https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-property/our-business/precinct-development/parramatta-north-precinct

https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/draftplans/exhibition/parramatta-north-precinct-state-led-rezoning-proposal.

HISTORY - HER STORY - OURSTORY



Please feel free to repost.

Covering 42-hectares of Government-owned land, the Parramatta North Program is a whole-of-government, major urban renewal initiative.

03/01/2025

Big shout out to our newest top fans! 💎 Joy Nandan, Victoria Burke, Nicola Noakes, as part of our fans

Welcome, Top Fans of the Parramatta Female Factory Friends!

We are thrilled to have you as part of our passionate and supportive community. Your dedication to preserving and sharing the rich history of the Parramatta Female Factory is truly inspiring.

As top fans, you play an essential role in keeping the stories of resilience, struggle, and triumph alive. Your engagement helps us honor the legacy of the women who shaped Australia's history and ensures their voices are never forgotten.

Stay tuned for exciting updates, exclusive insights, and special events just for you. Together, we can continue to advocate for the preservation of this significant heritage site and share its remarkable history with the world.

Thank you for your ongoing support—let's make history together!

- The Parramatta Female Factory Friends Committee

24/12/2024

A NEW EXPERIENCE AWAITS - LIGHTRAIL TO THE PARRAMATTA FEMALE FACTORY

Have you travelled on the new light rail? Follow us on a trip from Parramatta Square which is 71m from Parramatta Railway Station and takes you to within 100m from the Parramatta Female Factory, remember to alight there at Ngara as the light rail continues to Westmead and returns.

Book a guided walking tour in 2025 by emailing [email protected] and catch the Parramatta light rail. Step from 2025 into 1818 where female convicts lived, worked in the factory, endured cruel punishments, had children removed from their care, were assigned to work in the colony and many were selected to be married and released from custody.

23/12/2024

MEDIA RELEASE
The Newly Opened Parramatta Light Rail is a Gamechanger for Western Sydney and A Gamechanger for Parramatta Heritage! At last the National Heritage Parramatta Female Factory and World Heritage value site is on the Map! A Jewel in the Heritage Crown of Parramatta is now accessible to all Australians

Alight at NGARA, Factory Street, North Parramatta
(Ngara - LOOK - LISTEN - THINK)
Look at the sandstone walls and wonder about the lives of the convict women who were incarcerated here! Listen for their voices of protest! Think about their resilience and survival after being forcibly removed from their land of birth! Think about the multi-histories of this extraordinary site! Walk in the convict women’s footsteps!

The Friends’ Rooms are open for information, sales and Herstory displays every Friday commencing late January 2025. The PFFF Research Room is open for family history enquiries by appointment.

Regular Tours by appointment @ [email protected].

08/12/2024

The Parramatta Female Factory Friends would like to thank you our for your support during 2024, it was a big year culminating in major events in Riot Day in October and Foundation Day in November (arguably the best ever) and well organized by the City of Parramatta. We could not have done it without our lovely group of volunteers helping out and the amazing help provided by the volunteers from Parramatta Leagues Club.

Some of you may have missed the news, the Preliminary Submission was submitted to UNESCO for World Heritage Listing in September 2024. We now nervously await (although quietly confident) UNESCO's decision to progress to the next step in the process.

See below PFFF Calendar below, print it out and pin it on the Fridge so you know when our major events are on in 2025.

Our PFFF Research Centre is now officially open, 9am every Friday. Research assistance by appointment.

We also have Bi-Monthly General Meetings where we open with a speaker at 1 pm (as part of our Speaker Program) followed by afternoon tea in our Ann Gordon Tea Room and the General Meeting commencing at 2:15PM.

Our members' morning teas were well received this year, so to our members, keep an eye on your emails for the next special invitation to our first Morning Tea for the year in March 2025.

A reminder we have Regular & Bespoke Tours, and all Tours are by appointment by contacting the Tour Coordinator at our email: [email protected].

20/11/2024

10/11/2024

Great to be with my Liberal colleagues at the Female Factory in Parramatta recently.

We are so blessed to be surrounded by many significant heritage sites in Parramatta. The Parramatta Female Factory is the earliest and most intact convict women’s site in Australia. Of the 24,960 convict women transported to Australia approximately 5,000 went through the Parramatta Female Factory. This suggests that a significant number of Australians are descended from the women who lived at the Parramatta Female Factory.

We attended the Female Factory for the launch of the the official launch of the Parramatta Female Factory Research Centre and Babette Smith Collection. We were also there for the Annual Riot Day Commemoration, which is where we mark the day in 1827 when the convict women stuck up for their rights in the face of appalling conditions. We honoured the women by laying posies of flowers at the commemorative wall.

A huge thank you to the Parramatta Female Factory Friends for all their hard work in maintaining, protecting, promoting and celebrating this important site.

If you haven’t visited the Female Factory before, it is well worth visiting and taking a tour!


Katie Mullens

03/11/2024

WORKSHOP - ANCESTRY MASTERCLASS

This Friday we are running a follow-up to the successful Ancestry 101, a beginner's workshop to Ancestry.com. This workshop follows on and takes on exploring Ancestry's billions of records and how to compile your family tree and overcome roadblocks. The workshop will show you how the NEW DNA matching works and how to organize your new DNA matches.

Most importantly, you can bring your own laptop and sign into our NBN Router by Wi-Fi or use one of our latest laptops (be sure to email us beforehand to secure a laptop).

There will be a break for tea/coffee/refreshments - ALL supplied as part of the cost of the workshop.

Parking is now much easier with the Parramatta Leagues Club offering FREE parking for those attending the Parramatta Female Factory.

STRICTLY LIMITED TICKETS.

02/11/2024

Shout out to my newest followers! Excited to have you onboard! Carole Kitteringham, Stefanie Paglialonga

02/11/2024

Shout out to our newest followers! Excited to have you onboard! Carole Kitteringham, Stefanie Paglialonga

01/11/2024

FOUNDATION DAY - TOMORROW - 2 NOVEMBER 2024

As previously announced, I wanted to check if you are coming?

Check out what's on and all the activities,

Talks, 🗣🎥🍿 tours 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️, petting zoo, 🐑 wooden craft - wooden horse 🐴, blacksmith - jewellery making 💍💎horse rides, 🐎, old army vehicles 🚙, music 🎵, ice-cream🍦, stalls, 👜food, coffee ☕ scones and jam 🍰 or a sausage sizzle 🌭🌭 at Anne Gordon's Tea House and a research centre for those who love books 📚📖📕📘📗📙 and much much more at:

https://atparramatta.com/foundation-day

Drop everything, be early and enjoy a fantastic day.🎪🎪🎪🎪🎪🎪🎪🎪

If you can't come, please tell someone or share this; it is full of entertainment and a real festival atmosphere.

I will be the Convict on the BBQ!! 😉

See you tomorrow!!!

25/10/2024

Shout out to my newest followers! Excited to have you onboard! Nerida Lythgow, Helen Hutchinson, Michele Arentz, Gabby Morales

19/10/2024

FOUNDATION DAY - SATURDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2024

What a special year this FOUNDATION DAY will be, the City of Parramatta will be sponsoring a FREE event at the Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct and this year is jam packed a lot going on around the precinct.

Let's start with the Tours - all FREE, turn up to the information tent and make sure you put your name down for a tour EARLY so you don't miss out

TALKS - We are lucky enough to have Judith Dunn AOM giving a talk about the Crimes of the Convict Women and Gary Carter, with his new book about Parramatta - One Hundred Frists.

The Matron Gardon pop up Cafe is back serving Tea and delicious scones and other homemade slices that ARE delicious!

This year we are also putting on a sausage sizzle for those who don't mind a sausage, onions, sauce on a piece of bread - the smell of a BBQ!!

The Friends Rooms are open, and we have a new RESEARCH CENTRE which is up and running to help people with their family ancestry and female convicts.

We have displays and NEW large print photographs of the Female Factory. We also have some merchandise including our HerStory collection of books and bric-a-brac for sale.

I thoroughly recommend you come along and enjoy the AMAZING Parramatta Female Factory & Institutions Precinct.....FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS

If you can't make it, please do us a favour and tell someone, blog, chat, post, share, tweet or simply let someone else know about this event. Remember it is only held ONCE a year.

09/10/2024

Bi-Monthly Speaker programme - Alan Foster is presenting Bunyip Music

This month we have Alan Foster talking about 19th-century Australian history and songs arising from events of the era, Alan will focus on the history told in these songs and the songs themselves.

Alan is a retired electronics engineer who has spent more than a decade working as a volunteer for the Blue Mountains Historical Society, providing technical expertise. Having spent many years as a ‘folk singer’, he has combined his long-term interest in ’old songs’ with his more recent interest in Australian history. The result is a unique look at history through the eyes of those experiencing it at the time.

For bookings click on this link

https://bit.ly/3Yf79Rf

The talk will be followed by a delicious afternoon tea and then the PFFF General Meeting at 2:15 pm. New members are most welcome

03/10/2024

IT'S A RIOT - THE ANNUAL RIOT DAY COMMEMORATION - FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER 2024.

197 years ago, hundreds of starving female convicts from the Parramatta Female Factory downed tools and broke out of the front gates, running down the streets of Parramatta in such a frightening state as to be called 'Amazonian Banditti'. The troops at the Parramatta Barracks were ordered to Bayonet. Many female convicts returned after eating stolen food, and a number escaped to be captured later. Some made good on their escape and never returned. On the 25th, the Parramatta Female Factory Friends invites you to commemorate the thousands of female convicts and their children who suffered and endured the female convict system. We invite you to bring flowers for a commemoration ceremony at 11.00 am.

There will be tours at 9.30 am and 1.30pm and a talk at 12.00pm, which can be booked through the following link:

https://bit.ly/3XRHEUM

This year is rather special as we officially open the Parramatta Female Factory Friends Research Centre & Babette Smith Collection by Dr Andrew Charlton at 11.40 am

The Annual Thomas Keneally Lecture is being delivered by Association Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and his talk is on Fighting Back - Female Convict Labour Exploitation and Resistance in Convict Australia.

The Ann Gordon Tea Room will offer coffee, tea, scones & refreshments.

Our Friends Rooms will have displays, our PFFF shop, bric-a-brac, and a collection of curious on display.

Please drop into the Research Centre and let us help you make connections with your past. Do you have a female convict ancestor? If so, bring along your printed story to ensure we include her in our collection for generations to come.

Please consider being a member with benefits such as our Newsletters, exclusive notice to events, talks, workshops, and 1-hour FREE research a year.

11/09/2024

WORKSHOP - COLONIAL CRAFT WORKSHOP 1 - STRAW PLAITING & BRAIDING

On Saturday 28th September from 10am to 1pm, we are hosting another great workshop by Lyn Watkins, a talented crafter and descendant of Parramatta Female Factory women.

This one is about the colonial craft, straw plaiting and braiding, which the female convicts did to keep the hot sun off, having arrived mostly from the British Isles.

It is only $30 including a craft kit

To book, please click on this link:

https://bit.ly/3Bbfe0c

It will take you straight to Eventbrite and a limited number of tickets are available.

Remember to use public transport as the FREE bus takes you to the Parramatta Leagues Club and it is a short walk from there to 5 Fleet Street and our rooms.

Any questions, please email [email protected]

20/08/2024

PARRAMATTA FEMALE FACTORY - GUIDED WALKING TOURS - FEEDBACK

DID YOU KNOW
We run tours all year round; however, large groups are usually booked on Monday through Thursday, and small groups of 5 people or less are usually put together to form a larger group on Fridays.

See the attached Tour Information from our website:
https://www.parramattafemalefactoryfriends.com.au/our-guided-tours/

We can send you a Tour Information Guide that explains the tour's logistics, including Safety and how to get to the factory.

[email protected]

Once we confirm a date you will receive a booking confirmation number. You are then added to our Tour Calendar and a PFFF Tour Guide is allocated. The Booking Confirmation Number is also used to assist in EFT payments as it should be used as a reference number.

We always need a mobile phone so that we can, if necessary, call either the day before or on the day of the tour, in case you or your group are running late or lost or something has happened.

FEEDBACK
Feedback from our most recent tour:

Hi
I would like to thank your tour guide for a fantastic tour yesterday of the Parramatta Female Factory. All 15 participants commented to our Bus Host Deb that your guide's presentation was 'excellent, fantastic, enlightening, passionate and thorough. They particularly enjoyed the photographs that your tour guide used throughout the tour.

I saw some of the group this morning and they were enthusiastic in their enjoyment of the experience. One of the ladies is urging them to join her at the Riot Day on Friday 25 October.

Some of the additional comments shared by the group include...

'Your Tour Guide was a very good guide and was passionate about telling the stories of the women who were incarcerated there.
Naomi

"I was very impressed with the depth of knowledge about so many personal stories of the lives of women at the Female Factory throughout the decades from 1821-1848.
Deb

Thank you again for your commitment to the preservation of this important part of our history.