During the 19th-century, Tasmania was Australia’s primary penal colony. Around 12,500 female convicts were transported to the island where they were put to work in harsh, grueling labor camps known as Female Factories. The Cascades Female Factory opened in 1828, taking over the premises of a failed distillery in the foothills of Mount Wellington. The factory consisted of five yards, which included dormitories, solitary confinement, a wash yard, matron’s quarters, and an orphan school for the children of convicts. Convicts were marched from the docks in Hobart to the prison…
