Watch Your Step!

The British colony at "Hobart Town" was established in Van Diemen's Land as a convict penal station in 1803. Among the remnants of Hobart's convict era 'Female Factory', the "supervisor" gives a warning to a "newly arrived female convict" on the penalties which may apply if she causes any offence or breaks any rules. These are, of course, two actors giving a very impressive information session to a group of tourists. Little more than the outside walls remain of the original structure.

Over 6000 transported convict women (the list is incomplete) found themselves incarcerated in Hobart's "Female Factory", either on arrival by ship, or between work placements. It operated from 1828 to 1856, at which time it became a jail before being mostly demolished after closing in 1877. Several smaller ones operated in country centres. These essentially were "workhouses" crossed with rather nasty prisons. You can read more about it here: www.femaleconvicts.org.au/index.php/convict-institutions/female-factories/cascades-ff