For centuries women’s work has been devalued. At the same time that it has been devalued it has also provided a cover for some women to engage in activities and not be seen. This has been show time after time through the use of crafts such as knitting, crochet and embroidery by women to spy, pass messages and to use as a sort of camouflage to conceal their activities. I wanted to see if there were many accounts of this happening in Australia. So, using Trove, I searched using the keyword knitting. It didn’t take long before this account popped up.

JANE CRAIG, commonly called ” Old Jenny,” a knowing piece of goods of little worth, was this day brought forward on a charge of keeping a disorderly house, encouraging persons to come and tipple thereat, at a dear rate, with short measure, made up by kind enquiries after the good people in Ireland, Catholic Emancipation; and such ‘like agreeable topics. She had acquired a box full of’ men’s apparel, a purse full of dollars and dumps, and half a gallon bottle of spirits was found under lock and key. She used to stand at the street door, having a knitting-needle, &c in her hand, the picture of care and industry, and thus by her cunning she could always espy a strange sail, and a convenient back door liberated any visitor improperly encouraged at the house. At length it came out, that Jane’s name, was Jane Mitchell, but that she had married William Craig, who had since been transported to Port Macquarie, and Jenny had remained at large without authority.

Ordered to the Factory for the space of six months, in the probationary class.

1826 ‘Police Reports.’, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842), 16 December, p. 3. , viewed 30 Sept 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2187127

Further research led me to a document that gave information on why women were sent to the Female Factory. https://www.parramattafemalefactoryfriends.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/List-of-Female-Factory-Women.pdf One woman, Margaret Hayes, was sent to the Female Factory for “knitting”. No further details were given. It appears knitting could be a dangerous activity for a woman to participate in. Later, in 1928, under the Master Edward Chambers, another woman was noted as ‘Knitting on the Sabbath”.