Routine
While many of the orphan girls were hired quickly, others faced weeks of monotonous drudgery. Routines of depot life revolved around daily hiring room displays, weekly washings and monthly menstrual chores. Distractions were few. Perhaps the prayer books, pious magazines and visits from the Sisters of Charity and local priests relieved the boredom.
Cleanliness
According to instructions, 'Monday and Tuesday shall be the usual washing days, but this rule will not be held to apply to Immigrants received into the Institution from ships on or subsequent to those days . We can only imagine how the endless battle against infections, infestations, tooth decay and grime overwhelmed the lives of depot inmates.
Mending
Although clothed, fed, freighted and lodged at British government expense, the orphan girls knew few luxuries. Thrift, economy, toil and creativity were encouraged in institutional life. Broken or worn out things not easily replaced, like socks and smoking pipes, were carefully mended, while things not easily acquired, like game pieces, pegs and hats, were cleverly improvised.
Appearances
Although publicly condemned as 'ignorant useless creatures', the Irish orphan girls were 'better conducted' and more industrious than other immigrants at Hyde Park Barracks, according to Matron Capps. Godfrey Mundy, a keen observer of colonial life, was 'struck with the cleanly and decent appearance of these poor girls ... as well as by their marked superiority in good looks over the native born girls of the same order'.
Passing time
According to some colonists, the orphan girls apparently 'preferred food and lodging and idleness in that establishment to wages and labour out of doors'. So how did they pass these supposedly wasteful idle hours? Handy use of a pocket knife, crafting scrimshaw motifs on a piece of bone, the initials of a loved one in wood, playing dice or dominoes, stealing a quiet smoke or reciting a private rosary.
Treasures
What's needed for life in another world - a lucky coin tied in a hanky, a sacred heart, the blessed virgin, a tiny keepsake box? On departure from Ireland, the girls were kitted with clothing of various patterns, to equip them for travel and to camouflage their workhouse origins. Facing an unknown fate, they inevitably stowed other precious or useful things.
Ration
Discipline and order at the dinning table was strictly enforced by the Matron, who oversaw the rationing of the orphan girls' meals. Compared to their former workhouse diet, commonly of boiled Indian meal, a nourishing stew of beef or mutton, along with salt, tea and fruit, confirmed the government's desire to hire out fit, healthy and well-fed girls.