In the shadows of Tasmania’s Convict Era, more than 12,000 women were transported to this island colony. Many sentenced to seven or fourteen years for crimes as small as stealing bread or fabric. Upon arrival, they entered a rigid system inside the Female Factories, divided into Punishment, Crime and Hiring classes. These institutions were designed to discipline and redistribute women into colonial society.
But they were also places of motherhood.
The Female Factories housed the babies of convict women in dedicated Nursery Wards. Within these prison walls, mothers were expected to care for their children under conditions shaped by surveillance, separation and scarcity. Enforced early weaning and poor hygiene led to devastatingly high infant mortality rates.
In 1851, visitor Charles Mundy described seeing infants “stowed away head and tail, like sardines à l’huile” in shared wooden cribs — a confronting image of institutional life. Yet beyond official reports and outsider accounts, archaeology allows us to look for the quieter evidence of daily survival.
The Ross Female Factory, one of four women’s prisons operating during Tasmania’s convict era, functioned not only as a place of punishment and assignment but also as a laying-in hospital with a prominent nursery. Historical archaeologist Eleanor Casella has led multiple excavations at the Ross site, uncovering artefacts and evidence that shed new light on motherhood inside this colonial prison.
Drawing from excavated walls and underfloor finds from the Nursery Ward, Dr Casella’s upcoming lecture explores how care, resilience and survival can be traced through the archaeology of the Ross Female Factory. What did motherhood look like in a system built to control women’s bodies and labour?
We are delighted to host Dr Casella for this special event at the Tasmanian Wool Centre on Saturday 7th March at 1.30pm. The lecture will be followed by a guided tour of the Ross Female Factory site, offering a rare opportunity to walk the landscape where these stories unfolded. Light refreshments will be provided.
This is a free event, with bookings essential via Eventbrite. We invite you to join us for an afternoon that connects research, place and the deeply human stories at the heart of Tasmania’s convict history.
Historic Nursery
On the Dig