BROTHELS IN BULIMBA AREA,
BRISBANE, QLD
DURING WW2

Dennis Burchill describes the existence of brothels in the Bulimba area during WW2 as follows in his April 2004 "Wartime Memories of Bulimba":-

One story that should be recalled relates to the brothels on Bulimba. These were set up by a couple of local "Girls" and their minders to cater for the young Chinese barge builders. They had plenty of money and were willing to pay for their pleasure. The largest establishment was set up in “first gully” which ran up the school hill from Lytton Rd. about where the western boundary fence is now for the Exclusive Brethren’s Church. It operated at night with the girl standing at the head of a queue of about thirty Chinese. Next to the girl was a “Minder” who took the money and timed each customer. All the business was carried out standing up. We would sneak into the bushes and watch the action.  We thought that we would liven things by collecting a bag of ball bearings from the aeroplane dump and firing them with our shanghais at the Chinese men waiting their turn in the queue.  When we scored a direct hit all hell broke loose and we only just beat the possies that were chasing us to Bolan Street. Another madam operated out of a large 1938 Buick which would pull up at the water trough which was on the corner of Lytton Road and Apollo Road.  A couple of the Chinese would hop in and about 10 minutes later they would be back and another set of customers jumped in. We never ever found out where they went, but after our near death experience with the ball bearings we decided that there were much safer hobbies than playing "Spot the Chow!"

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Dennis Burchill for his assistance with this home page.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 26 December 2006

This page last updated 24 January 2020