1880s prostitution focus in South Australia, pushed by Social Purity Society, ties causes to poverty and rights
Future South Australian premier Dr John Cockburn (left) warned in 1885 that it “absolutely impossible to abolish brothels". Police commission William Peterswald (right) told an 1884 enquiry that the extent of "the social evil" or prostitution in Adelaide was much exaggerated.
Images courtesy State Library of South Australia
South Australian police commissioner William Peterswald told the commission of enquiry into the Destitute Act in 1884 that the extent of prostitution or “the social evil” in Adelaide had been much exaggerated. But he admitted that a “great many young girls walking about the street at night” went to “houses of assignation” or the parklands.
During 1883 petitions signed by more than 6000 petitioners calling for “better protection for the virtue of young girls and women” were presented to both houses of Parliament.
Prostitution was seen as the result of poverty and women's dependence on fathers, husbands and sons. In 1883, infant mortality among Adelaide’s illegitimate children was 40%. Domestic servants made up 88% of single pregnant women admitted to the lying-in home, and 148 families (65 adults, 421 children) were receiving relief, with 12 wives in the destitute asylum and 217 deserted children in the industrial school or in foster homes.
Sex work became an alternative to domestic service, where girls were subjected to their masters’ sexual advances, or to the poorly-paid sweatshops of the garment trade. The right to own property was advocated to give women the economic independence to care for themselves and their children without having to resort to prostitution.
A more sensible debate in parliament emerged during the passing the Protection of Young Persons Bill 1885, promoted by the women, including Mary Lee, of the Social Purity Society.
During the debate, Dr John Cockburn (South Australian premier 1889-90 and women’s suffrage supporter) warned that it was “absolutely impossible to abolish brothels.” This seemed to be confirmed in 1907 when police reported 103 brothels and 164 people involved in operating them in Adelaide. Yet in the same year, the state government presented the Suppression of Brothels Bill, largely in response to concerns voiced by Adelaide City Council that properties next to brothels “deteriorated in value”.
The Police Act 1936 consolidated prostitution as a criminal offence and the 1953 Police Offences Bill contained the basis of the prostitution laws that still apply in the state. While 21st Century South Australian prostitution legislation were based on acts from the 1930s and 1950s, at least six attempts were made to reform the laws, starting in 1980.
