Female Convicts

Life was quite difficult for Convict women. Most were sentenced in England for minor crimes such as pick pocketing or theft. As punishment, not only were they exported from their country, many were forced to endure of a life of sexual exploitation. On the ships to Australia, the prettiest were rumoured to have been shared amongst the military officers. Upon arrival in Australia, the women were lined up like cattle to be selected as servants or wives. If they didn’t become either, a life of prostitution was their only real hope for survival.

The Lady Juliana was the first Convict ship to be primarily for women. It had been "opened" on the ports on the way to Australia thus became known as "the floating brothel." It arrived in Port Jackson in 1790. As the women were disembarked, a drunkard orgy broke out. Sailors and Convicts were in and around the women's tents, some queuing for sex, others made love with women they had forged attachments on the voyage. Perhaps the women were willing parties in the orgy, but if they weren’t, they probably didn’t have much choice other than to go along. Either way, the Convict women became known as depraved and immoral. One witness to the orgy wrote,

“The women, cooped up on the voyage and for another 10 hot and intolerable days outside Sydney Cove, had not too many chaste figures among them.”

Australian Story: Convict women join the colony

Because the women carried a very negative stigma, morals crusaders often tried to educate them regarding the folly of their ways. Women who simply stood in a “immoral” pose risked having their heads shaved and being forced to wear a collar around their neck as a mark of disgrace.

The most difficult women were sent to female factories, which were forced labour camps. Here they continued to be educated about the virtues of morality. At the Cascades Female Factory in 1838, the moralising became too much for the women and they decided to make a point. The governor of Van Diemens Land visited the factory and attended a service in the chapel. Entertaining the governor was the Reverend William Bedford; a morals campaigner whose hypocrisy had elicited the lady's scorn. Keen to impress the governor with a fine speech, the Bedford addressed the women from an elevated dais, then:

"the three hundred women turned right around and at one impulse pulled up their clothes showing their naked posteriors which they simultaneously smacked with their hands making a loud and not very musical noise. This was the work of a moment, and although constables, warders etc. were there in plenty, yet 300 women could not well be all arrested and tried for such an offence and when all did the same act the ringleaders could not be picked out."

This cheeky behaviour 'horrified and astounded' the governor and the male members of the party. As for the ladies in the governor's party, it was said, in a rare moment of collusion with the Convict women, 'could not control their laughter'.

Female Moonings

On another occasion, Reverend Bedford was crossing the courtyard of the Female House of Correction, when "some dozen or twenty women seized upon him, took off his trousers and deliberately endeavoured to deprive him of his manhood. They were, however, unable to effect their purpose in consequence of the opportune arrival of a few constables who seized the fair ladies and place them in durance vile. "

The hardships endured by the women seemed to build a strong sense of female solidarity. The women sang songs, which were often labelled “very disgusting.” When matrons tried to separate agitators from the group, the entire group would sometimes chant “we are all alike, we are all alike.” Not only did the actions protect individual women, they also made Convict life a bit more bearable. The True Colonist reported in 1837 that while the 'horrors of the crime class' had shocked the inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, what was more disagreeable to moral evangelical sensibilities was the fact that many women prefer this class to the others, because it is more lively! There is more fun there than in the others; and we have been informed, that some of the most sprightly of the ladies divert their companions by acting plays! "

As if often the case, out of something bad, came something good. The hardships endured by the Convict women seemed to build an ethic to alleviate the hardships in others. Successful Convict women such as Molly Morgan never forgot their own hardships earlier in life, and donated freely to establish schools, hospitals, and even churches. Free immigrants like Caroline Chisholm also decided to do something about the suffering she saw around her. She took some women into her house and travelled the colony to find employment for others. Within two years she had found employment and accommodation for over a thousand women and girls. She then went on to found the Family Colonisation Loan Society to help break the cycle of dependence and poverty. Chisolm’s compassion always came with strings attached. In her hostels, she employed a tough love approach in which she made it clear that guests should never get too comfortable because they should be out looking for a job. Mother Mary McKillop was another whose compassion probably flowed from seeing the horrors of the day. Mary took a vow of personal poverty and always shared the hardships of the people she was trying to help. She was able to personally survive largely because people helped her as well. A society that started off as one in which everyone looked out for themselves, evolved into one in which people started looking out for others.

www.christinahenri.com.au

Contemporary art concerning convict women.

20th Century

20th century timeline
Prosperity and conflict

White Australia Policy
From Convicts to Chinese

Douglas Mawson
Science and survival

Gallipoli
Remembering loss

John Monash
The father of the blitzkrieg

John Simpson
He died so others may live

Anzac Day
Lest we forget

Tobruk
Desert Rats defy Hitler

Nancy Wake
The White Mouse

Kokoda
Never giving up

Long Tan
What happened?

Referendums
A history of "no"

Prime Ministers
Skeletons in the closet

21st Century

Timeline
Century of Asian engagement

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