Women, Lolly Shops and the Underworld: Melbourne Walking tour

Melbourne was a notorious city in the early 1900s and the lolly shops (Australian term for candy shops) and women played a big role in the criminal circuits. This crime tour is all about the stories of the women, brothels, lolly shops, sly-grogs (speakeasies) that dominated the sinister side of Melbourne.

Here’s the plan…

 You will meet your guide at historic Coopers Inn from where you will head to explore the streets and laneways which were all about murders, prostitution and vice in the early 1900s.

Your guide will take you to downtown Melbourne’s ‘Little Lon’ district and learn about an era when the lolly shops sold much more than just confectionary and soft drinks. The underworld mostly operation through this district and the women stood their ground against well-known gangsters such as Squizzy Taylor. Hear stories of gang wars, madams and all-female crime syndicates like ‘The Combine’. You will receive a booklet with photographs of the people that the guide talks about during the walk.

Your guide will show you sites of shootings, bombings, bashings, brothels, robberies, opium, cocaine and sly grog (speak easies) that occurred within the walls and on the streets.