The Paramatta Female Factory
Gay Hendriksen, a curator and writer, is the founding partner of The Rowan Tree Heritage and Cultural Services.
Gay has researched and interpreted cultural and social histories for 30 years, focusing on early Colonial Australia, with an emphasis on women’s stories. She curated the national award-winning exhibition, Women Transported – Life in Australia’s Convict Female Factories, and has developed ten publications, including Conviction – 1827 Fight for Rights at the Parramatta Female Factory. Gay’s curatorial work has also covered Elizabeth Farm, Rouse Hill House and Farm, Meroogal, Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum, Penrith Regional Gallery and the Parramatta Heritage Centre. She is an honorary archivist for Camden Park.
Her highlights as a consultant include State Archives of NSW, Bundanon Trust, Wollongong Heritage and Stories Museum Digitisation, Blue Mountains Museum Advisor and Villages of the Heart illustrated and oral histories.
Gay has been a long-time advocate for social justice through cultural activity, coordinating the earliest identified contemporary public welcome to Country in 1990 and curating over 30 culturally specific exhibitions including work with recent refugees. She also advocated successfully, through petitions to State and Federal Government, for National and World Heritage status for the Parramatta Female Factory, and led the application for a Green Ban for the site.
Please join us this month to hear from Gay about the history of the Paramatta Female Factory and the advocacy work undertaken to protect the site. Gay will also talk about her consultancy firm, The Rowan Tree.
This is a free event, but registrations are required.
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