Ross Female Factory Historic Site

​Although little remains of the Ross Female Factory, the site, located just outside the picturesque township of Ross in Tasmania’s Midlands, holds a symbolic place in Tasmania’s convict history. Derived from the British institutional word ‘manufactory’, the name represents the prison’s role as a workhouse for the female convicts incarcerated here – some with their babies – between 1847 and 1854.

A rustic stone cottage at the entrance to the historic site that once housed the prison’s overseer is now a museum offering informative insights into the lives of female convicts in the mid-1800s. Upon arriving at the Ross Female Factory cast your eyes across the grassy expanse and try to imagine the clusters of stone buildings that on​​ce stood here, including a chapel, nurseries, workrooms and solitary confinement cells.