OUR TOUR explores the historic events and settings of books such as ‘The Butterfly Women‘, ‘Madam Brussells’ and ‘The Women of Little Lon‘. Locations can include ‘Papillon’, Little Lonsdale Street, Chinatown, Magdalene La, Casselden La, Gorman Al, Romeo La, Juliette Tce, Bilking Square, White Hart, Dr Howitt’s, Eastern Market, Melbourne Hospital, Black Eagle, Stephen Street, Theatre Royal, Royal La, Lt Leichhardt, Police Courts, Surry Pl, Squizzy Taylor and others. We explore the extraordinary social background of the infamous Little Lon and the surrounding precincts.

BOOKS written about the Little Lon precinct, include Madam Butterfly by Madeleine Cleary Madam Brussels by Barbara Minchinton, The Women of Little Lon by Barbara Minchinton, Little Lon by Andrew Kelly (illustrated children), Madam Brussells. This Moral Pandemonium by I. Robinson and the Mystery of the Hansom Cab by Fergus Hulme. Melbourne Walks also leads Madam Brussells Tours.

Madame Brussell’s bordello faced Lonsdale Street and backed onto Casselden Place and Gorman Lane. Her ‘flash houses’ opposite Parliament defied the bigotry of powerful men who vilified her as the ‘Queen of Evil and Harlotry’ and triggered the criminalisation of sex workers for over a century, until reversed by the Victorian parliament in 2022.

This was a roller-coaster era: gold rush frenzy, flash Melbourne, aspirational Irish women, shady land boomers, the 1890s crash and prohibition. Our tour is a fascinating insight into the values, morals and lifestyles of 19th-century Melbournians and the architectural transformation of a city that had abandoned its poor into a modern city with a social welfare safety net and striking contemporary architecture.

Our book club members loved it!   Karina.

I just wanted to say thank you for the great tour you gave last night, everyone had a wonderful time and for our line of work, all that history of welfare and everything else about this little corner of Melbourne was absolutely fascinating.  Parliament staff group.

Thank you again for taking us on the tour…. We all found out some fascinating information about our own ‘home’ city, which we didn’t know. So much history!   Royal Melbourne Hospital staff group.

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