I.Australia as a Penal Colony In the first decades new families were often formed in the colony in a brutal way.When a ship with women convicts or "free"women migrants docked,first the Government officials and senior officers,then the sailors and "free"working men were allowed to go on board to claim a woman as a servant and/or a concubine. Convicts could claim the remaining women.The women who were not claimed either slept on the streets or were sent to the “Female Factory'”-a prison in Paramatta. Single women were at risk of being abused,and this was part of the institutional culture of the colony.Single women were obliged to work and sleep with one man or bear the considerable risks of being shared between men I. Australia as a Penal Colony • In the first decades new families were often formed in the colony in a brutal way. When a ship with women convicts or “free” women migrants docked, first the Government officials and senior officers, then the sailors and “free” working men were allowed to go on board to claim a woman as a servant and/or a concubine. • Convicts could claim the remaining women. The women who were not claimed either slept on the streets or were sent to the “Female Factory”—a prison in Paramatta. • Single women were at risk of being abused, and this was part of the institutional culture of the colony. Single women were obliged to work and sleep with one man or bear the considerable risks of being shared between men