A colonial female economy: Sydney, Australia (Convict transporation, penalhistory)

In early colonial Sydney, Australia, women were active participants in the market involving houses and rent. The colonial administration saw women as economically useless but the term 'householder' hides a female economy focu sed on control of the housing market. Women could obtain houses as gifts or at a very low cost. Records of commercial transactions, court records and government lists give us access to the separate female economy, where there was opportunity to exploit emotional and financial relationships for those clever enough. The adaptability women showed in industrialising economies in Europe or Britain was apparent also in colonial New South Wales.