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Little Lon was the popular name for a slum and red-light district in Melbourne, Australia. The area was roughly bounded by Lonsdale Street, Spring Street, Stephen Street (later Exhibition Street) and La Trobe Street. Little Lonsdale Street itself ran through the block, and the area was further divided by numerous narrow laneways. In the nineteenth century the area consisted of timber and brick cottages, shops and small factories and was home to an ethnically diverse and generally poor population. Today there are few reminders of the area's former notoriety. ==Prostitution, petty crime and larrikinism== Archaeologist Justin McCarthy suggests that by 1854, only twenty years after Melbourne was established as a city, the area was well established as a notorious "red light" and slum district. It was associated with prostitution, petty crime and larrikinism.〔Justin McCarthy (1989) ''The Commonwealth Block, Melbourne; Archaeological Investigation Report. Volume 1; Historical and Archaeological Report.'' p.55. Australian Construction Services prepared for The Department of Administrative Services and Telecom Australia〕 The numerous narrow back alleys and small cottages of this area housed, by this time, a growing number of prostitutes, ''The Argus'' newspaper at the time complaining of "females of the lowest and most disreputable class, who pursued their calling with the lowest and most filthy language and conduct."〔''The Argus'', 18 January 1854, cited in Justin McCarthy (1989) Vol. 1, p.55〕 Prostitution was linked with "larrikinism" in official reports, as in the following description of the corner of Little Lonsdale and Leichardt Street from 1882: In 1891, Melbourne city's back slums were described by evangelist Henry Varley as "a loathsome centre in which crime, gambling hells, opium dens and degraded Chinese abound, and where hundred of licentious and horribly debased men and women are herded like swine". These places were "a disgrace to any civilized city on earth."〔Henry Varley (1891) ''The War between Heaven and Hell'', p.12, cited in Graeme Davison. David Dunstan & Chris McConville (Eds) (1985) ''The Outcasts of Melbourne''. p.51. Allen & Unwin, Australia. ISBN 0-86861-446-7〕 Fergus Hume's immensely popular ''The Mystery of a Hansom Cab'', written in 1887, described life in a slum in the nearby lanes behind Little Bourke Street, as exposed by its middle class heroes. Writing in 1915, C. J. Dennis's humorous novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' spoke of the "low, degraded broots" (brutes) of Little Lon. Little Lon's most opulent brothels tended to face main streets, but were discreetly run. "Disorderly" or "low class" brothels tended to be in the narrower laneways behind. Tobacconists, confectionery, cigar and fruit shops in the area also sometimes acted as fronts for prostitution. In the small houses of the laneways, single or small groups of prostitutes also ran the most primitive cottage brothels. For example, the still extant Number 17 Casselden Place was operated by a single Chinese prostitute known as "Yokohama" (Tiecome Ah Chung) as late as the 1920s.〔Justin McCarthy (1989) Vol 1, p.95〕 "Madam Brussels", facing Lonsdale Street, attracted a wealthy class of clientele, and consequently also greater notoriety, although prostitution itself was not illegal in 19th century Victoria. In 1878 a Select Committee Report on the ''Prevention of Contagious Diseases'' included the following evidence about Madam Brussel's brothel at 32-34 Lonsdale Street, from Sergeant James Dalton: Madam Brussels was far from the only elite brothel in the area. In 1867 Police Commissioner Standish introduced the visiting Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, to a brothel run in Stephen Street by Sarah Fraser.〔John Lahey (1993) ''Damn You, John Christie!'' p. 20-22. State Library of Victoria, Australia. ISBN 0-7241-9943-8〕 Other "orderly" brothels also included those of "Scotch Maude" and Biddy O’Connor.〔Graeme Davidson, David Dunstan & Chris McConville (Eds) (1985) p.68〕 In October 1891, the mace of the Victorian parliament was stolen. It was claimed that it had found its way to Annie Wilson's "Boccaccio House", in the Little Lon district, where it was supposedly used in a mock parliament. It was not recovered.〔Justin McCarthy (1989) p. 66〕 The connection between Victoria's politicians and the brothels of Little Lon was reinforced when Chief Secretary Sir Samuel Gillott was revealed to have had ongoing financial dealings with Madam Brussels. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Little Lon district」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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