Sign up to our newsletter Community Matters

Steyning History Society.

Wednesday 14th March - 19:30 - 21:30
The Steyning Centre, Fletchers Croft, Steyning

Dianne Mannering: 'Send Us Some Women.'

There were very few women aboard the First Fleet which sailed to Australia in 1787. It had been decided that once settled in Botany Bay, Governor Phillip would send to the Friendly Islands (now Tonga) to collect a party of native women who would act as a stabilising influence for the garrison (comfort women) and a breeding bank for the male convicts who would be given land when their sentence was served.

However, Phillip soon realised that the harsh conditions of the Sydney Cove colony was no place for gentle, grass skirted females and instead, he wrote home to England asking the Home Secretary Lord Sydney to send out some women.

It so happened that Newgate Gaol was bursting at the seams with women – murderers, thieves, pick-pockets, drunks and prostitutes.

The Lady Julian set sail in July 1789 with its reluctant cargo and this is the amazing story of the voyage and how these unprepossessing women reinvented themselves and helped found Australia.

Contact: Pat Blackie (Secretary) 01903 812283 - Ian Ivatt (Chairman) - ianivatt.tax@btinternet.com
Share this article



Content Managed by Your SteyningCrafted by Scaws