Mistress of her Domain: Matron Hicks and the Hyde Park Destitute Asylum, Sydney, Australia
Part of the An Archaeology of Institutional Confinement: the Hyde Park Barracks 1848-1886 project
Author(s): Peter Davies
Year: 2015
Summary
Matrons were often powerful figures in the daily workings of benevolent asylums and other institutions of refuge. Responsible for hygiene, subsistence and the moral oversight of inmates, matrons occupied a strategic point in the relationship between institutions and wider society; they embodied notions of institutional care, refuge and reform. Matron Lucy Hicks was typical of this pattern. As matron of the Hyde Park Asylum for Infirm and Destitute Women in Sydney, Australia, from 1862 to 1886, she exercised enormous influence over the inmates and the daily operation of the institution. Archaeological and documentary evidence reveals important aspects of the life of Matron Hicks and her family, and her role as intermediary between governing authorities and pauper inmates.
Cite this Record
Mistress of her Domain: Matron Hicks and the Hyde Park Destitute Asylum, Sydney, Australia. Peter Davies. International Journal of Historical Archaeology. 19 (3): 552-567. 2015 ( tDAR id: 426769)
URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10761-015-0298-1
Keywords
Material
Building Materials
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Ceramic
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Glass
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Metal
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miscellaneous
Site Name
Hyde Park Barracks (Sydney)
Site Type
Asylum
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Institution
Geographic Keywords
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Spatial Coverage
min long: 151.199; min lat: -33.882 ; max long: 151.22; max lat: -33.852 ;