Convict women in Australia
The women would be employed in 'factories' (equivalent of the English workhouse) but often had to find their own accommodation, and would be under great pressure to pay for it with sexual services.
Owing to industrialisation and the growth of city-slums, as well as the unemployment of soldiers and sailors following the American War of Independence, Great Britain was experiencing a high crime rate around 1780.
In response to growing crime, the British government began to issue harsh punishments such as public hangings or exile.
The British Government called for more women of "marriageable" age to be sent to Australia in order to promote family development for emancipated convicts and free settlers.
The majority of women sent to Australia were convicted of what would now be considered minor offences (such as petty theft), most did not receive sentences of more than seven years.
Many women were driven to prostitution upon their arrival in Australia as means of survival because they were often required to house themselves or buy clothing and bedding on their own.
In his journal, he described the women on board as "abandoned wenches", contrasting their characteristics with the supposed virtues of his wife in England.
Nicol himself expresses his desire to marry and bring back to England his convict "wife", Sarah Whitlam, after her release.
[citation needed] Starting from 1829, the female factories were established as a loose network of women's prisons which existed until the British transport of convicts to Van Diemen's Land ended in 1855.
In the Parramatta female factory the occupants were not given mattresses or blankets to sleep on and the social conditions inside were indecent.
The factory had room for only a third of the female prisoners; the rest had to find lodgings with the local settlers at some cost (usually about four shillings a week).
[11] Several court testimonies of convict women provide evidence for same-sex activity between the inmates in exchange for barter goods as well.
[16] A high number and diversity of buttons was found inside the cells of the women together with tobacco pipes and alcohol glass containers.
Archaeological excavations have found that the floor in a solitary cell in Ross Factory was composed of almost 60% charcoal which provides evidence for a fire that has struck inside.
[11] Common punishments for women caught resisting in prison were solitary confinement, iron neck collars and public humiliation.
[17] Marriage between male and female convicts and raising a family was encouraged because of the government's intentions of developing a free colony.
