Preface
Judging from the living conditions of female exiles in the early days of the colony, the establishment of a women's prison factory was very necessary.
The arrival of a large number of female exiles has posed new problems for the British government, one is that a large number of female exiles are unemployed, which increases the financial burden on the government.
Second, because the British government did not centralize the management of female exiles, most of them were scattered in colonial society, which not only damaged the image of colonial society.
Moreover, some of the bad acts of female exiles, such as prostitution and theft, greatly endangered the security of colonial society and were not conducive to the stability of colonial society.
Therefore, from the above situation, it is not difficult to see the reason why the British government established the women's prison factory.
First, to make full use of the labor force of female exiles, reduce government expenditures, and develop the colonial economy; Second, the management of female exiles should be strengthened to maintain social order in the colonies.
The need to reduce government spending
The establishment of women's prison factories by the government was more out of economic considerations.
In the early years of colonial development, the government was always faced with financial constraints, and colonial government officials had to ensure the effective implementation of the exile system while at the same time minimizing the financial burden on the mother government.
Therefore, every decision of the government must fully take these two factors into account, with the economic factor always taking the first place.
The issue of the work of women prisoners had always been a headache for the Government, and the establishment of a women's prison factory had solved the problem.
In addition to the women's prison factory as the governing body for women exiles, the government also defined it as a textile factory, i.e., a place of labor for women prisoners, who were hired as weavers in the factory.
On the one hand, female exiles can earn part of their wages by working in women's prison factories to achieve self-sufficiency. On the other hand, making full use of the labor of female exiles through the women's prison factories would reduce government expenditures and generate some of the benefits for the colony.
In this sense, the women's prison factory was the first experiment in the early textile industry in the colony, and the female exiles can also be regarded as the first group of weavers in the colony.
It is precisely because of the above factors that the women's prison factory has been able to move from idea to practice, which is the primary but not necessary reason for the establishment of the women's prison factory, and the direct reason for the establishment of the women's prison factory by the government is the need for the management of women prisoners, which is also the most fundamental reason.
The need to manage women exiles and maintain social order in the colonies
Prior to the establishment of the women's prison factories, the government had to provide the women exiles with food and clothing necessary for their daily lives, and other problems such as accommodation had to be solved by themselves.
Although the Government has also erected temporary barracks for the exiles, as the number of exiles increases, these shelters are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the exiles.
Therefore, the problem of accommodation became a problem that every exile had to face. This question was relatively easy for male exiles, whose physical superiority made them the main force in the early economic construction of the colony.
Male exiles who worked diligently and actively reformed in the colonies could not only earn wages, but also receive conditional pardons if they performed well.
The situation of female exiles is different, as their natural physical weakness puts them at a great disadvantage. In the early days of the colony, women exiles were also involved in labor, but most of them were unemployed.
Many female exiles cohabited or prostituted themselves with the male inhabitants of the colony (male exiles or settlers) in order to gain a place in the colony. For the upper classes, there was no difference between the two approaches.
The Reverend Samuel Maas once divided all the women in the colony into "married" or "concubines," and "according to Maas's spine, there were 395 in the former and 1,035 in the latter."
He recognized only one kind of marriage, and that was one that had been ceremoniously performed by the English clergy—ideally one that had been ceremoniously performed by himself.
The poor behavior of female exiles upon their arrival in the colonies deepened the prejudice of the upper classes. “
Almost all the comments on colonial society, the passages of evidence submitted to the various special committees on the penal regime, as well as pamphlets, diaries or letters from home, always lost no time in portraying the shameless depravity, intransigence and worthlessness of women exiles.
Prostitution and cohabitation were widespread and could not be eradicated in the colonies. At that time, it was widely believed that the bad moral character of female exiles would pollute colonial society and have a bad impact on colonial society.
Moreover, society at the time tended to associate large gatherings of women on public streets with social chaos. Marsden saw female exiles as the embodiment of disease, representing social disorder and chaos.
Similarly, James Mudie, a captain and colonial magistrate, took the same view in his 1837 book, The Felonry of New South Wales.
"They are the pests and gangrene of colonial society—a disgrace to human nature, inferior to animals, a disgrace to all living things."
The influence of colonial society on women exiles and their society had reached such an extent that they equated women with beasts, or even considered them inferior to beasts, which shows the depth of prejudice against women exiles among the upper classes.
It was against this backdrop, and in order to manage women in exile and at the same time maintain order in colonial society, the government finally decided to establish a female penal administration that met the above conditions.
According to the government's vision, it would be a place where women exiles could work and find a place of refuge, and where women who behaved badly would be punished.
As soon as the idea of a women's prison factory was proposed, the colonial government took immediate steps to turn it into reality. However, the establishment process was not all smooth sailing, and many problems were encountered along the way, and after much exploration, the colonial government eventually established women's prison factories in New South Wales and Van Diemen.
Establishment of a women's prison factory in New South Wales
New South Wales was the first British government colony in Australia and the first to establish a women's prison factory. Therefore, in the process of establishing the women's prison factory, the British government went through a rather tortuous process of exploration.
The first women's prison factory in New South Wales was located above Parramatta Prison and is often referred to as the "factory-over-the-gaol".
The first to propose a factory for women prisoners in the colony was Governor King, who, when he first took office in 1800, proposed to establish a woollen mill in the colony for three main purposes:
One is to solve the problem of female exiles by employing women in textile factories, and the other is to provide a shelter for homeless women and their children.
The third is to use the women's prison factory as a prison place to punish female exiles.
It can be seen from Governor King's consideration of the functions of the women's prison factory that the women's prison factory has a variety of functions, and the women's prison factory must not only meet the needs of the economic development of the colony, but also meet the needs of the government to manage female exiles.
Governor King put this idea into practice when he established the Old Parramatta Prison in 1803, when he proposed an additional layer above the prison as a shelter for female exiles who had just arrived in the colony, which was completed in 1804.
The women's prison factory consisted of two large rooms, about 80 feet long and 20 feet wide (24 by 6 m), "which served as a workplace for women exiles during the day and as a resting and confinement place for them at night."
The women's prison factory was not large, could only accommodate a small number of women, and with no beds, ventilation and lighting, it was difficult to maintain basic cleanliness, order and discipline, and solitary confinement was almost impossible.
By 1818 the women's prison factory was very dilapidated and overcrowded as the number of women exiles in the colonies grew.
At this time, the women's prison factories were criticized by the colonists (an issue discussed in more detail in the next chapter) for their poor internal environment and their negative impact on colonial society, and they strongly demanded the establishment of new women's prison factories to improve the situation of women prisoners.
In fact, the first women's prison factory was not really a female penal institution, and although the government advertised its punitive function for female prisoners, in practice it was a textile factory. Nonetheless, it remains the prototype of a women's prison factory and an important step forward for the government in the management of women prisoners.
In view of the problems of the women's prison factory above Parramatta Prison, the British government decided to establish a new women's prison factory in New South Wales after many suggestions.
The establishment of the new women's prison factory was made thanks to the Rev. Samuel Marsden, who was very concerned about the situation of women exiles in the colony. Upon learning of the misfortunes of female prisoners in the women's prison factory, he repeatedly proposed to Governor Macquarie to build a new women's prison factory and improve the living conditions of the female prisoners.
In 1822, Governor Macquarie wrote to Bassester about the women's prison factory:
It was a spacious stone barracks and factory, three stories high, with a floor of dung on the sides of which were the lodging and living quarters of the female exiles, as well as rooms for specific purposes, including a cotton room, a loom room, a workshop, a wool and linen storehouse, a supervisor's room, a large kitchen for the women exiles, and a bleaching field for bleaching cloth and linen products.
The entire main building and the said site cover an area of about four acres and are surrounded by high stone walls and moats or stone ditches.