The Parramatta Female Factory

From the Parramatta Sun:

Local MPs and Parramatta Heritage Centre members are furious that work has begun to turn one of Australia’s most important buildings into an IT centre.

The Parramatta Female Factory, now part of Cumberland Hospital, is the oldest surviving female convict structure in Australia.

To Parramatta Heritage Centre curator Gay Hendriksen it is an irreplaceable piece of women’s history.

Parramatta Federal MP Julie Owens called it ‘‘incredibly important’’ and said to not preserve it would devalue women’s contribution to Australia.

But when The Sun visited the site last Monday work had already begun on the third-class sleeping quarters building despite assurances that the renovations had not yet been approved.