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"Whore Walk: a sex history walking tour [...] could single (double?) handedly revive the history walk and talk"
Lila Shapiro for Clothesline
Friday 28th February, 2025
History walks seem to have a somewhat daggy reputation, relegated to the nerdy and uncool. The Whore Walk: a sex history walking tour, dreamed up and meticulously researched by Adelaide-based sex worker Jane Whatshername, and delivered by the serially sarcastic sex worker duo Queenie Bon Bon and Jenna Love, wearing their hot pink and yellow ‘WHORE GUIDE’ shirts, I feel, could single (double?) handedly revive the history walk and talk.
This walk nurtured both mind and body (I trotted out 3,185 steps according to my iPhone!) as well as dishing out an equally healthy serve of pro sex work radicalism too. We sat on stoops and staircases across Adelaide’s west end being bounced along the banterous script written by Queenie. Whilst hilarious, sometimes the thick layer of sarcasm prevented me from pausing to process some of the harsher implications of what I was hearing or marvel in new information.
Changing (or unchanging) legal approaches to the criminalization of sex work was the driving force of the tour with the catchphrase the narratives that turned workers into criminals and communities into crime scenes. This was a wise lens not least because many of these laws remain in legislature and in use. A consequence of this was that at times I felt more connected with the attitudes of the police, legislators, and conservative media than the woman and peoples whose stories of resistance we were searching (walking) for. The opening segment with its vivid descriptions of Adelaide’s ‘first whores,’ very young girls and women escaping Ireland, was especially strong. I wished this characterization and ‘from below’ focus could have carried on more into the night.
The archival vigour of the script was a little dense. Overflowing with jurisdictional and print evidence, it was hard to hold onto anything for too long as we charged through time (and the streets) – nonetheless I learnt so much; sex workers were one of the key groups in reducing harm during the Australian AIDS crisis, Rosina Street used to be a string of brothels. The ways that labour and feminist movements have interacted with the sex worker movement was especially fascinating.
Ironically just existing on or walking the streets is one of the acts made criminal when done by a sex worker. On one hand our history walk was a reclamation of that act. We ‘took back the night’ so to speak, strutting around the streets, Jane wheeling a small mobile amp connected to Jenna and Queenie’s mics so they could loudly proclaim ‘whore this whore that’ to the chagrin of the general public. On the other hand, I partook in the 9 pm Thursday session, which at times felt like a group social experiment: we encountered plenty of confused men, staring us down, or yelling refreshing things like ‘I love whores!’ Cool dude…..
History can often feel like a distant story abstracted from our current lives and the cities we live in. We assume that things were very different back then or worse, never even try to imagine what it was like. Whilst ‘old-timey’ dramatic readings of newsletters or laws made us giggle, and buildings like the Stormy Summers’ Bordello are now called Tequila Sunrise, for the most part there is a striking continuity between the criminalisation of sex work, crimes of containment and consorting, from the first convicts till now. Having the tour guided by people whose lives are shaped by that historical legacy, whilst of course physically standing in the city where it happened, is an excellent way to be reminded that the past seeps into the present constantly.
"meticulously researched, full of banter and a gripping commentary of what Adelaide hasn’t learned from its past
Helen Karakulak for InDaily
Monday 24th February, 2025
Beginning at Currie Street’s Duke of York Hotel, this historic walking tour takes you to local sites that pop up in industry lore.
Guides Jenna Love and Queenie Bon Bon, self-described whores who like to walk, set expectations from the beginning: there will be no nudity, gruesome murders or seeing inside a sex dungeon on this tour. It’s also not a forum to ask questions about how sex workers pay taxes or the sexually transmitted infections they’ve had.
They’re joined by researcher and production assistant Jane Whatsername and take us through a non-comprehensive history of how sex workers have reshaped spaces in the city’s west end, how sex work has been represented and responded to.
After a mix-up about which 90s their costumes would be derived from, Jenna and Queenie are delightfully decked out in fluorescent shades of pink and orange t-shirts labelled ‘Whore Guide’. Queenie’s styled with a bonnet, and Jenna’s with butterfly clips and a holographic bum bag.
The two have charming chemistry, incorporating wordplay and repartee into their script, making the history enjoyable and easier to follow. A standout of their script, which is cleverly masked in book covers collaged with old newspaper clippings from a publication dubbed Whore News, is the ability to bring us into the present.
Conveniently, the stops chosen along the tour offer plenty of historical intrigue and shade or steps to sit on. As the sold-out group perches on the steps in front of the Currie and Rosina Streets TAFE campus, we’re told it’s still a crime in South Australia today to rent property out to known sex workers. This leaves them vulnerable to extortion and exploitation, “especially in a housing crisis” as Queenie points out.“I think we all know the saying right? First comes the brothel, then comes the fun, then along comes the landlord with a big plan to build a block of apartments or a Sofitel,” Jenna quips.
For this reviewer, it was this kind of commentary and relevance to the lives and careers of sex workers today scattered throughout the script that was most compelling. Though they compared the past and present well, and we were warned the journey would be non-linear, the pace of the historical timeline is hard to follow in sections – at times wondering are we in the 1880s or the 1980s now?
Nonetheless, history buffs will be adequately fed with details going back to 1848 and printed guides provided with archival images and further detail sourced from the state library.
Overall, the full tour – which clocks in at just over an hour – is a leisurely trek and well-delivered look at the narratives that have turned workers into criminals and communities into crime scenes.
"The most fun I've had with a couple of whores ever!"
Rod Lewis for Glam Adelaide
Friday 21st February, 2025
This could be the most fun I’ve had with a couple of whores ever!
Queenie Bon Bon and Jenna Love are wonderfully funny and bounce off each other with practiced ease as they lead Whore Walk around the east end of Adelaide.
Don’t expect to be titillated in this true history crime tour. Sure, it takes the slant of focussing primarily on sex work, but when you throw in police action, political game playing and shady characters, you soon learn that it ain’t the whores who are necessarily the real criminals, sweetheart.
The research done by Jane Whatsername (not her real name, surprisingly) and presented by the two hosts, is exceptional in both content and delivery. Over the course of slightly more than a “professional hour”, they take us from the 1800s to present day, looking at the places and people who have taken sex work from grimy slums to the attention of modern day puritans.
History and understanding are the two key takeaways from Whore Walk and regardless of your views on the subject, it’s difficult not to walk away with a greater understanding of why people do it, where they do it, and the absolute need for safety to become the first priority of the law.
Along the path to redeeming your false assumptions, you’ll laugh a lot, feel anger, be shocked, and laugh some more. Sadly, the season is a quickie, running this weekend only, but in that time, these whores have catered to the masses by being well-miked to beat the traffic noise and by including an interactive, non-walking version of the tour for those unable to become a street walker for the 1.7km route.
With more personal stories to tell and a whole lot of history still to be uncovered, this unique and utterly fascinating history of Adelaide and Australia is one not to be missed… next time.
"A Walk on the Wild Side"
Fest Mag, Fest Adelaide Preview 2025
Wednesday 12th February, 2025
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 are 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.
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!
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!
Okay 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.
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!