Parramatta Female Factory Sydney’s next World Heritage contender

The Australian government is seeking to have Parramatta Female Factory added to the World Heritage List, which would make it the second standalone site in Sydney to receive that honour alongside the Sydney Opera House.

The sandstone precinct was built by governor Lachlan Macquarie to house convict women in colonial times, and has previously been touted as a possible World Heritage contender.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the government had now added the site – formally titled the Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct – to Australia’s list of tentative World Heritage items.

To make the cut, it must meet at least one of 10 selection criteria as determined by the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Australia has 20 properties on the list, including just four listed for their outstanding cultural significance. Those are the Opera House, the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in south-west Victroria, and Australian Convict Sites (11 complementary sites around the country including Hyde Park Barracks, Cockatoo Island and Old Government House).

The remainder, such as the Great Barrier Reef, the Blue Mountains and Lord Howe Island, are listed for their natural or mixed significance.

Plibersek said the Parramatta Female Factory was a brutal place, especially for the poor, lonely and powerless, and it was vital to preserve the story of the women and girls institutionalised there.

“There’s a thread that runs through these buildings – it’s the way we’ve sought to institutionalise, control and discipline young women,” she said. “It’s important that we learn from our mistakes, as much as we learn from our many successes.”