Charlotte Williams with red hair, 56, from Wales, was imprisoned for 14 years for stealing sheep; Mary Ann Cummings, 35, from Devonport, was sentenced to seven years for stealing a blanket, shirt and quilt; and Sarah Baker, 20, from Penzance, got life imprisonment for murder. Their names inscribed on small boards lie against the rusty benches of the sprawling prison yard in blustery Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, Australia’s island state.
History whispers from every corner of the forbidding Cascades Female Factory, which operated as a prison for women from 1828 to 1856. Located at the foot of Mt. Wellington along a creek, it is a place with significant aboriginal history, and continued as a gaol under the administration of local authorities from 1856 until 1877.
It reopened in March this year with a $5 million state-of-the-art history and interpretation centre. Thanks to a sustained advocacy campaign, the site is today conserved as an important part of Australia’s history.
