British transportation of convicts to Australia was the world’s first attempt to build a new society on the labour of convicted prisoners. In total around 25,000 women were transported to Australia for their crimes, and current research suggests that over 6,000 of them spent at least part of their sentence within the walls of the Cascades Female Factory.
A visit to this World Heritage Site is an engaging and interactive learning experience.
Guided Tour
Ages: Years 4 – 12
Duration: 45 minutes
Cost: $10 per student (min. 20 students)
Take a tour of the Cascades Female Factory to discover the history of the site and the stories of the women who spent time here.
Curriculum Links: HASS (History), General Capabilities (Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding)
Notorious Strumpets
Ages: Years 7 – 12
Duration: 60 minutes
Cost: $15.50 per student (min. 20 students)
This in-person storytelling experience takes you on an emotional journey through the stories of seven remarkable convict women who faced life’s hardships with resilience. Seen by society as ‘notorious strumpets’, but there was so much more to each and every woman.
Curriculum Links: HASS (History), General Capabilities (Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding)
Step Into the Past – Convict Women Lives at Cascades
Ages: Years 1 – 3
Duration: 60 minutes
Cost: $10 per student (min. 20 students)
In this one-hour workshop, students will hear the story of Mary Derrick – a young woman who spent time at Cascades female Factory. They will learn about convict history, why people were transported to Van Diemen’s Land and what life was like at the time. They will compare what life was like then with now (through hand washing and making a Victorian era toy).
Curriculum Links: HASS (History), English, The Arts (Visual Arts), General Capabilities (Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding)
Workshop: Explore and Discover – Primary and Secondary Sources
Ages: Years 4 – 9
Duration: 60 Minutes
Cost: $5.50 per student
Please note: this is an add-on activity, best experienced with the Guided Tour
As students explore the site they will soon notice not much has been left behind … Where is all the physical evidence of the Cascades Female Factory? What has been left behind, and how do these artefacts help tell the story of this place and the women who spent time here? Students will explore the Yards for evidence of primary and secondary sources, before getting close-up with real artefacts from the site uncovered by archaeologists.
Curriculum Links: HASS (History), General Capabilities (Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding)
Workshop: Explore and Discover – understanding convict records
Ages: Years 4 – 9
Duration: 60 minutes
Cost: $5.50 per student
Please note: this is an add-on activity, best experienced with the Guided Tour
As students hear stories of the women who spent time here they may wonder … how do we know what we know? Students will explore real convict records and uncover some interesting facts and stories about a woman who spent time here. They will work as historians and share their findings with the group.
Curriculum Links: HASS (History), English, General Capabilities (Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding)
Workshop: Keeping Convict Women’s Stories Alive
Ages: Years 4 – 12
Duration: 60 minutes
Cost: $5.50 per student
Gather around and hear a story, a true story, of a woman convict. Writer and performer Sarah Hamilton will tell students one of her stories inspired by a real convict who spent time here at Cascades Female Factory.
Students will then take a sensory walk and tour of the Yards – what do you see, what do you hear, smell, feel? What might this place have been like back in then, as prison?
They will then get creative with Sarah and use the site and real convict records and stories to start shaping their own stories.
Curriculum Links: HASS (History), English, The Arts (Drama), General Capabilities (Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding)