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Madame Brussels : the life and times of Melbourne's most notorious woman
Minchinton, Barbara2024
Book
Madame Brussels, the most legendary brothel keeper in nineteenth-century Melbourne, is still remembered and celebrated today. But until now, little has been known about Caroline Hodgson, the woman behind the alter ego. Born in Prussia to a working-class family, Caroline arrived in Melbourne in 1871. Left alone when her police-officer husband was sent to work in remote Victoria, she turned her hand to running brothels. Before long, she had proved herself brilliantly entrepreneurial: her principal establishment was a stone's throw from Parliament House, lavishly furnished and catering to Melbourne's ruling classes. Caroline rode Melbourne's boom in the 1880s, weathered the storm of the depression years in the 1890s and suffered in the moral panic of the 1900s. Her death in 1908 signified the end of one kind of Melbourne and the beginning of another: the city went from tolerance of prostitution to complete prohibition on her lifetime. Drawing on extensive research, Barbara Minchinton deftly pieces together Madame Brussels' story and recreates a fascinating, colourful period in Melbourne's history. This is a major biography of a legendary Australian.
Main title:
Madame Brussels : the life and times of Melbourne's most notorious woman / Barbara Minchinton with Philip Bently.
Author:
Minchinton, Barbara, authorBentley, Philip, author
Imprint:
Wurundjeri Country ; Collingwood, VIC : La Trobe University Press, in conjunction with Black Inc., [2024]©2024.
Collation:
321 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Telling Caroline Hodgson's story. Part I: The old world. A wedding in LondonA photograph in Brussels. Part II: Early days in Melbourne. Arriving in MelbourneA single woman's businessThe move to Lonsdale StreetWhat's in a name?The shape of a 'flash brothel'A day in the life of a 'flash madam'The legal settingA curious gentleman's clubAn adoptionWhat kind of brothel?The business brought to trialA win for the moralists. Part IV: The complicated years. A lover perhapsRetirement plansA policeman's deathA new husbandOn trial againInfluence or corruption?A madame's entertainment precinct. Part V: The new century. An errant husband and the rise of TruthCottages and coach housesAnother trial and a divorceA political storm and three more trials. Part VI: The end. Corruption againWorkers and clientsDeath of a womanEnd of an era. Appendix 1. Summary of property transactions. Appendix 2. Lohmar/Schulze family tree. Appendix 3. Hodgson/Duke family tree. Afterword / by Philip Bentley.
ISBN:
9781760644932 (paperback)9781743823613 (ebook)
Dewey class:
306.7409209945B/HOD
Language:
English
Subject:
Hodgson, Caroline, 1851-1908Sex work -- Victoria -- Melbourne -- History -- 19th centurySex work -- Victoria -- Melbourne -- 19th century -- Social life and customsSex industry -- Victoria -- Melbourne -- History -- 19th centuryBrothels -- Management -- Victoria -- Melbourne -- 19th centuryProstitutes -- Victoria -- Melbourne -- BiographyBrothels -- Victoria -- MelbourneMelbourne (Vic.) -- HistoryBiographies
BRN:
2281856