Located on the traditional lands of the Burramattagal clan of the Darug, Parramatta Female Factory Precinct is Australia's foremost historical site of institutional confinement.

 

Dating back to 1821, this national heritage precinct covers an area of 7.3 hectares where the adjacent historic institutions of the Roman Catholic Orphan School and later Parramatta Girls Home (site 1) and the convict built Parramatta Female Factory and later Parramatta Invalid & Lunatic Asylum (site 2) are situated.

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Over time the hidden histories of these institutions have been revealed. Most recently by the Royal commission into child sexual abuse and in 2022, the NSW government dedicated a memorial to recognise and pay tribute to children who were abused at Parramatta Girls Home.

 

Today the child welfare institutions of this precinct are recognised as foundational in the history and narrative of Australia for those who experienced institutional care as children, or who were forcibly removed from their families known as the Stolen Generation and the Forgotten Australians. As many of these people have had a family it is highly likely that every Australian either was, is related to, works with or knows someone who experienced childhood in an institution or out-of-home care environment.