Eagle Farm first appeared as a name in 1839, identifying a cultivation area in the Moreton Bay penal settlement. In 1829, Captain Patrick Logan chose this well-watered, fertile site between the Brisbane River and Serpentine Creek to farm mostly maize, pigs and cattle. The origin of the name apparently arose from eagles being observed around the farm. By 1834, women prisoners were working as field labour at Eagle Farm. By 1836, forty female prisoners were housed there, washing and mending clothes, growing vegetables. The site remained a prison for twice convicted female felons until transportation ended in 1839. Conditions for the females at the prison were documented by the Quaker missionary James Backhouse in 1836.