Parramatta Female Factory Friends

🔎 UNLOCKING THE NSW STATE ARCHIVES COLLECTION
Research Workshop with Christine Yeats FAHS

Are you researching your family history, local history or the broader history of NSW and wondering what treasures might be waiting for you in the State Archives?

Join the Parramatta Female Factory Friends for a practical and engaging workshop with highly respected archivist and historical researcher Christine Yeats FAHS.

📅 Friday 25 September 2026
🕙 10.00am – 1.00pm
📍 Parramatta Female Factory Friends Rooms
‘Greenway’ Matron’s Quarters
5 Fleet Street, North Parramatta

🔐 Unlocking the NSW State Archives Collection
Bookings: https://bit.ly/UnlockStateArchives

Christine will demonstrate how to navigate the Museums of History NSW website and make better use of the remarkable resources held in the NSW State Archives Collection.

You’ll discover practical ways to:

🔹 Search the online catalogues more effectively
🔹 Use the A–Z indexes to locate records and research guides
🔹 Identify archival sources you may not have known existed
🔹 Find material relating to family, people, places and communities
🔹 Develop more efficient research techniques for your own historical investigations

💻 Bring your laptop or computer if you wish and follow along during the workshop.

Christine brings an extraordinary depth of archival and historical research experience. She is:

• Chair, Jessie Street National Women’s Library Board
• Senior Vice President, Royal Australian Historical Society
• Convenor, UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Committee Assessment Sub-Committee
• Chair, Independent Scholars Association Australia (NSW)
• Review Editor, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society
• Awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Australian Historical Society in 2023

This is a wonderful opportunity to learn directly from one of Australia’s highly experienced archival researchers and discover new ways to bring history to life through original records.

☕ Morning tea included

🎟️ Cost: $15 plus booking surcharge

👉 Bookings are essential – places are limited, so please book early:
https://bit.ly/UnlockStateArchives

🚗 Please note: There is no onsite parking. Limited four-hour street parking is available nearby.

We look forward to welcoming researchers, family historians and everyone with a curiosity for discovering the stories hidden within our archives.

🌿 ARE YOU A DESCENDANT OF THOMAS WELLS AND MARTHA SHAW?

On 12 September 1826, Thomas Wells and Martha Shaw were married by the Reverend Samuel Marsden at St John’s Church, Parramatta.

Two hundred years later, their descendants are invited to gather in Parramatta to celebrate this remarkable family story.

WELLS FAMILY REUNION 2026
Saturday 12 September 2026
9:00 am–6:00 pm
Parramatta Female Factory, North Parramatta
Concluding at St John’s Anglican Cathedral

This is a private family event exclusively for descendants of Thomas and Martha Wells and their extensive family tree.

We particularly hope to reach family branches throughout the Hunter Valley, Northern Tablelands, Tamworth and elsewhere across Australia. If you know another descendant, please share this invitation directly with them.

AGENDA

9:00 am — Registration and tea or coffee
9:30 am — History of Thomas and Martha
11:00 am — Morning tea
11:30 am — Guided Parramatta Female Factory tours
1:00 pm — BBQ lunch
2:00 pm — Children of Thomas and Martha Wells and their families
3:30 pm — Afternoon tea
4:00 pm — Family discussion
4:30 pm — Travel to St John’s Cathedral, with light rail available
5:00 pm — Visit to St John’s Anglican Cathedral
6:00 pm — Close

Registration is required:

https://events.humanitix.com/wells-family-reunion-2026/tickets

Enquiries: [email protected]

Research Workshop with Danielle Lautrec

🔎 Finding Your Female Convict

Tracing the origins of our female ancestors can be challenging. Women often appear only briefly in historical records — through marriage, childbirth, institutional records, or the records of others.

Join Parramatta Female Factory Friends for an interactive research workshop led by Danielle Lautrec, author of The Good Genealogist: How to improve the quality of your family history.

Danielle will share practical methods for:
• reviewing and analysing existing research
• developing new research leads
• identifying misleading information
• avoiding unsupported or indefensible conclusions
• strengthening the evidence behind your family history

This workshop is ideal for anyone researching a female convict ancestor, a difficult family history line, or women who have been hard to trace in the records.

📅 When: Friday 24 July 2026, 10:00am
📍 Where: Parramatta Female Factory Friends Rooms, the ‘Greenway’ Matron’s Quarters, 5 Fleet Street, North Parramatta
🎟️ Cost: $15 plus booking surcharge
🚗 Parking: No onsite parking. Limited 4-hour on-street parking available.

Places are limited, so please book early.

BOOKINGS: https://bit.ly/FindYourFemaleConvict

W: www.parramattafemalefactoryfriends.com.au
E: [email protected]
P: 0456 787 252

Facebook & Instagram:

COLONIAL CRAFT WORKSHOP - STRAW PLAITING & BRAIDING + CRAFT CIRCLE - 2 EVENTS ON THE SAME DAY!

Friends,
Another exciting event to add to the calendar this month. Lyn Watkins is, by popular demand, running another two workshops this year called Colonial Craft Workshop
In this workshop, participants will be making a replica of a sun bonnet, similar to a hat made and worn by female convicts.

Workshop led by Lyn Watkins, talented crafter and descendant of Factory women
WHEN: FRIDAY, 126th June 2026 - 10 am to 1 pm.
WHERE: Parramatta Female Factory Friends Room
5 Fleet Street, North Parramatta
No parking onsite - limited 4-hour on-street parking
Straw plaiting was one of the numerous occupations of the convict women. All manner of household items were made from plaited straw. A plaited straw hat or a bonnet was an essential item of clothing in such a hot climate, and for women, an adornment when trimmed with a ribbon or two.

Workshop: Cost $15 plus straw kit $15 (only if you did not purchase one at workshop 1)
Equipment: Bring your own scissors and tape measure.

PLEASE NOTE: We welcome previous participants. Cost: $15 only for the second workshop. If you did not attend Workshop 1 earlier this year, that's OK, you can catch up in a relaxed setting, in your own time.

All enquiries to Lyn: [email protected]
Bookings essential - places are limited
Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/colonialcraftworkshop2

Morning Tea provided

2ND EVENT CRAFT CIRCLE
Come along, inspire others or be inspired, share your love of craft, bring along your current project for a morning get together at the Female Factory - c1818-1848, making it once again a hub of creativity!
Meet in the PFFF Rooms 5 Fleet Street, North Parramatta
Friday 26th June 2026, 11 am - 1 pm.
COST: $5 (which includes your morning tea)

https://bit.ly/colonialcraftworkshop2

Love to see you all there

Media Statement

Dear members and friends,

We are now only days away from a significant public heritage moment for Parramatta, Western Sydney and Australia.

The Parramatta Female Factory Friends Inc. will present a major community petition to our Federal and State parliamentary representatives at Parramatta Square, calling on government to continue and complete the World Heritage journey for the Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct.

We urgently need more people to take the next step and sign the Petition.
Please sign, share, and encourage family, friends, descendants, survivors, historians, women’s history supporters, heritage advocates and community members to add their names.

Petition link:
https://bit.ly/PFFIP4WorldHeritage

Event registration:
https://tinyurl.com/PFFIP4WorldHeritage

Join us for the Petition Presentation — Her Story is Our Story
When: Wednesday 17 June 2026
Time: Arrive 10.00am for 10.30am
Where: Parramatta Square, open space adjacent to the Council Chambers

Please come along if you can. Wear something purple, bring others with you, and help us show visible public support. Some members will attend in colonial costume, which will create a strong visual presence for media, photography and television.
The attached Media Statement reminds us that the Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct is one of Australia’s most significant places of memory, conscience and survival — connected to convict women and children, institutional life, child removal, welfare control, mental health care, resilience, survival and reform.

The petition calls on government to:
continue the World Heritage pathway;
protect the site and its setting;
fund conservation and interpretation; and
establish expert heritage and museum-style custodianship.

The women and children of the Parramatta Female Factory, and those who came after them, were too often silenced in life. They must not be silenced in history.
Every signature matters. Every share matters. Every person who stands with us on 17 June matters.

Thank you for continuing to support the Parramatta Female Factory Friends and the call for World Heritage recognition.

For media inquiries, interviews or background information:
Gay Hendriksen
President, Parramatta Female Factory Friends Inc.
M: 0447 189 137
E: [email protected]

STOP PRESS - SAVE THE DATE - PETITION PRESENTATION

If you have not signed our Petition, please sign as every signature counts:
https://bit.ly/PFFIP4WorldHeritage

SPECIAL EVENT
We have arranged to present the Petition to both the Federal and State Parliamentary Representatives at Parramatta Square.

WHEN: 10am for 10.30am Wednesday 17th June 2026
WHERE: Parramatta Square, adjacent to the Council Chambers

To attend, please register here: https://tinyurl.com/PFFIP4WorldHeritage

Please wear something purple and you will find some members wearing colonial clothing.

For all Media and Public inquiries, please contact: President Gay Hendriksen
M: 0447 189 137 E: [email protected]

Parramatta Female Factory & Institutions Precinct (PFF&IP) for World Heritage

👉 SIGN THE PETITION: https://bit.ly/PFFIP4WorldHeritage

Her Story is Our Story — Honour the Women of Australia
The PFF&IP is one of Australia’s most significant places of memory, conscience and survival. It tells the story of convict women, children, Aboriginal experience, survivors, Forgotten Australians, families, patients and communities whose lives helped shape the nation.

The Precinct is already on Australia’s National Heritage List, but that must not be treated as the final chapter. The NSW and Australian Governments began the World Heritage journey. Now they must finish it.

We call on both Governments to:
1. Continue the World Heritage pathway with a focus on the Parramatta Female Factory. This is to include an updated, reframed submission as part of the current World Heritage application preliminary assessment; an expert-led review of the Outstanding Universal Value case; proper international comparative analysis and expert community and academic contribution and review. As a part of the pathway establish proper planning protections for the site, buffer zone, sightlines, heritage landscape, curtilage and surrounding setting.
2. Prepare a stronger, expert-led World Heritage strategy
Work transparently with community organizations working directly wit the PFF&IP - Parramatta Female Factory Friends, Parragirls, survivor groups, Forgotten Australians, relevant Aboriginal organizations, heritage experts, museum specialists and the wider community.
3. As acknowledged through National Heritage listing, commit to the implementation of site custodianship with the New South Wales Government for the long-term, ongoing management and funding for site protection, conservation, heritage buffer zones, access, interpretation, public programming and visitor/education infrastructure.
4. For proper management and respect, the site to be managed by a museum and heritage specialist government organization and with a board/trust to oversee the management made up of heritage, museum, community and financial expertise, such as Museums of History NSW. The museum to be the inaugural Museum of Australian Identity, for all Australians now and into the future, focusing on the Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct history as the central theme. As part of this provide immediate and long-term funding for conservation, education, interpretation, research, public programs, visitor infrastructure and accessible storytelling - work that community volunteers have carried for too long without adequate government support.

For more than 200 years, this landscape has held stories of punishment, separation, labour, institutionalisation, resilience, reform and survival. It is sacred ground for many descendants and survivors, and a national inheritance for all Australians.

Early advice from the World Heritage process should not be used as an excuse to walk away. It should be used to fix the nomination, strengthen protections and complete the work already begun.

Australia has rightly honoured places connected with colonial administration, military history and male convict labour. The women and children of Parramatta deserve no less respect.

This is not a partisan issue. It is a national responsibility.

Let us honour the women, children, survivors and descendants of the Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct — and secure World Heritage recognition for future generations.



Go to our website for the full petition: https://www.parramattafemalefactoryfriends.com.au

Bi-Monthly Speaker Programme 2026

Join us for a fascinating journey across the seas!

Parramatta Female Factory Friends are delighted to welcome Mike Traynor for our June Guest Speaker event.

From Portsmouth to Parramatta: A Voyage of a Lifetime or a Cruise for Life?
Step aboard and experience the long voyage to New South Wales through the eyes of those who lived it — convicts, emigrants, soldiers, and sailors. Mike, a former merchant seafarer, will bring to life the cramped quarters, fierce storms, daily routines, class tensions, and unexpected moments of humanity that defined months at sea.

A passionate maritime historian and storyteller, Mike will share what these transformative journeys really meant for the people who endured them.

📅 Friday 19 June 2026
🕜 1.30pm (General Meeting at 12pm | Afternoon tea at 1pm)
📍 Friends Rooms, Greenway Matron’s Quarters
Parramatta Female Factory, 5 Fleet Street, North Parramatta
💰 $5 entry (+ booking fee) | Places are limited – book early!

🔗 Bookings: https://bit.ly/PortsmouthtoParramatta

No onsite parking, but plenty of options nearby (Parramatta Leagues Club carpark is free). Easy access by bus or light rail too.

Come along for an engaging afternoon of maritime history, wonderful company, and a delicious afternoon tea. New members and visitors are warmly welcome!

We can’t wait to see you there!



Parramatta Female Factory Friends Inc.
📍 5 Fleet Street, North Parramatta
📞 0456 787 252
🌐 parramattafemalefactoryfriends.au

✨ HERITAGE DAY 2026 – STEP INTO HISTORY ✨

Join us for a truly memorable day at the Parramatta Female Factory & Institutions Precinct – a National Heritage Site, where Australia’s past comes to life.

📅 Saturday, 9 May 2026
⏰ 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Whether you’re passionate about history, researching your family story, or simply looking for a wonderful day out with friends and family, Heritage Day at Parramatta North has something for everyone.

🔎 What’s on offer:
• FREE Tours & Talks (bookings recommended)
• Explore the PFFF Research Centre & Babette Smith Collection – you might even discover a convict ancestor
• Special talk: “Unknown Women Pioneers” with Judith Dunn OAM
• Browse unique heritage displays, stalls & Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe
• Enjoy music, markets, and a vibrant heritage atmosphere

☕ Relax at Matron Ann Gordon Café - for our BBQ or enjoy our famous tea, coffee & delicious scones.

🎟️ All events are FREE – but tours and talks require booking:
👉 https://events.humanitix.com/heritage-day-at-parramatta-north-2026/tickets

🔗 More event details:
👉 https://australianheritagefestival.org.au/event/34976257-a/heritage-day-2026-at-parramatta-north

🚊 Easy access: Take the Parramatta Light Rail from Parramatta Square and alight at Ngara

💜 Come and experience History – HerStory – OurStory at one of Australia’s most significant heritage sites.

Bring your family, bring your curiosity—and be part of the story.

NATIONAL HERITAGE FOR HAMBLEDON COTTAGE, ELIZABETH FARM AND EXPERIMENT FARM COTTAGE.

These three of Australia's most significant colonial sites are currently being assessed for the National Heritage List. Together, we have already made positive progress — but we must now expand our campaign with the goal of securing heritage listing.

A proposed development of 320 multi-storey dwellings at Gregory Place threatens to permanently harm this heritage precinct, its historical sightlines, its archaeological fabric, and the quiet streets that define this precinct. Families in surrounding streets will lose their privacy and neighbourhood character.

These sites tell Australia's foundational colonial story. Once lost, that integrity cannot be recreated.

Experiment Farm Cottage
The cottage sits on the site of the first land grant in Australia, given to James Ruse, an ex-convict who had been brought to Australia on the First Fleet to carry out his sentence in 1787. Upon completing his sentence Ruse asked Governor Arthur Philip for an allotment of land to prove he could farm the land and be self-sufficient, which he successfully achieved in 1791 by cultivating a 30-acre piece of land. Surgeon John Harris built the Indian-style bungalow.

Elizabeth Farm
The oldest surviving European dwelling in Australia, once occupied by John and Elizabeth Macarthur and their children

Hambledon Cottage
Built in 1824, this well-preserved and beautifully furnished home sits on the Elizabeth Farm Estate. The house was built by John Macarthur, a British army officer and pioneer of the Australian wool industry and was most notably occupied by his governess Penelope Lucas in 1827. Built in the Colonial Georgian style, using rendered sand stock brick.

https://andrewcharlton.client.ml.net.au/have-your-say/stop-gregory-place-save-parramatta-s-heritage-petition/

Please like, click on the link and sign the petition to urge the Australian Heritage Council and Minister Murray Watt to expedite the National Heritage listing — before irreversible damage is done.