You step out of the Duke of York Hotel onto Currie Street after a night in the beer garden. You’re a local, you know these streets… but do you really know them? You spot a glitter of characters on the corner. Two figures wearing shirts that say ‘Whore Guide’ beckon to you. There is a small group of eager strangers listening to what they say. Is that really the politically correct word*? Who are these strange people? Is that one wearing an old-timey bonnet? You must find out the answers to these pressing questions. Thankfully, you happened to purchase a ticket to Whore Walk and have coincidentally landed upon the meeting place for this event, AKA your metroCARD for space and time.
1850s
The one with the bonnet suggests you follow them to the corner of Rosina & Solomon and suddenly it is 1851. Rosina is one of the busiest localities in the city, almost entirely brothels, including the ‘Monster Brothel’ which prominent citizens frequent. Cameras out! Spot the celeb! Damnit. The ‘gram hasn’t been invented yet. The activities of sex workers in this area so outrages residents that they insert notices in the daily newspapers warning one another. We advise finding the toughest looking ladies in the bar and grabbing your drink – quick, the cops are coming!
1920s
The Whore Guides whisk you off to the 1920s and all the hotels are no longer the hottest spots in town for dalliances. Find your comrades in the south-western corner of the city. These ladies are running dual businesses – cold drinks at the front, hot times at the back. Go in and ask for cigarettes. They will ask if you’d like anything else and if you say yes… the curtain will open. We’ll meet you out the back. In 50 years. Time flies when you’re having fun!
1970s
OK it’s the 1970s. But this is not feeling groovy. Rather than being hidden away, attention is focused on sex workers – they are seen as traitors by feminists and criminals by the cops. But the city now has 60 ‘massage parlours’ despite harsher laws, increased penalties, and 50% of sex workers having experienced arrest. Grab yourself a ‘sex work is work’ sign and make sure you’re on the right side of history! Solidarity with workers of the world.
1980s
It’s 1986 and you are invited to the very first meeting of PASA (Prostitutes** Association of South Australia). This is getting urgent. Police are confiscating safer sex materials while workers fight to combat the HIV epidemic. Get yourself a drink. Make it a large. We’re gonna be here for a long time. The longest running decrim campaign in so-called Australia is still running. Yes, we’re back in 2025 and shit is still fucked. And we’re still fighting. We hope you’ll join us. See you at the Duke for Whore Walk!
*No. Not for you, but we can use it all we like.
**Also don’t use this one. Thanks!
Whore Walk: a sex work history walking tour, Duke of York Hotel, until 23 February