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stories</a>, <a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/ask-a-librarian/victorian-history/" rel="category tag">Victorian history</a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <section id="main" role="main"> <div id="post-92543" class="clearfix post-92543 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-ask-a-librarian category-our-stories category-victorian-history tag-hotels tag-ladies-lounge tag-ladies-parlor tag-ladies-parlour tag-pubs"> <div class="entry"> <div style='display:none;' class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Ladies in the lounge' data-link='https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/ladies-in-the-lounge/' data-summary='These days, the idea of a 'ladies' lounge' seems archaic, but there was a time not so long ago when they were de rigeur...' data-app-id-name='post_above_content'></div><div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge_Hotel-Daniell-Brisbane_1.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="799" height="511" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge_Hotel-Daniell-Brisbane_1.jpg" alt="Postcard image of a ladies' lounge in the Hotel Daniell, Brisbane. The lounge has a fireplace and includes some pink armchairs and a dining table draped in a pink tablecloth" class="wp-image-92898" style="width:840px;height:auto" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge_Hotel-Daniell-Brisbane_1.jpg 799w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge_Hotel-Daniell-Brisbane_1-300x192.jpg 300w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge_Hotel-Daniell-Brisbane_1-768x491.jpg 768w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge_Hotel-Daniell-Brisbane_1-269x172.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge_Hotel-Daniell-Brisbane_1-340x217.jpg 340w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge_Hotel-Daniell-Brisbane_1-640x409.jpg 640w" sizes="(max-width: 799px) 100vw, 799px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Ladies Lounge in the Hotel Daniell in Brisbane, Qld – early 1900s.</em> Courtesy of Aussie~mobs, Flckr</figcaption></figure></div> <p></p> <p>In 1925, the Boundary Hotel submitted some building plans to the Melbourne’s Licensing Court, which included a proposal for a ‘ladies’ parlour’. The court’s response was swift and unequivocal:</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p>‘You can have the parlour, but to advertise it as a “Ladies’ Parlour” is… reprehensible.’ (<a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2139710">Argus,</a> 14 July 1925, p 14)</p> </blockquote> <p>When asked to elaborate several days later, Melbourne’s Chief Licensing Inspector, Mr Calwell, said:</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p>There are no ladies’ parlors in Collingwood, Fitzroy, Carlton or North Melbourne. Parlors exist in which women are served liquor, but none is specifically reserved for that purpose. Nor is there any in the city hotels. Ladies’ parlors are practically non-existent. As for wine shops, the licensees discourage as much as possible drinking by women…’<span id='easy-footnote-1-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-1-92543' title='The Library prefers the British spelling of the word &#8216;parlour&#8217;. However, where an historical newspaper has used the American spelling, we have retained the spelling for historical accuracy. This is also the case for the word &#8216;liquour&#8217;.'><sup>1</sup></a></span></p> </blockquote> <p>‘I have never,’ he added, ‘in my thirty-five years’ police experience seen an Australian woman drinking in an open bar.’ (<a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155796960">Age,</a> 18 July 1925, p 14)</p> <p>Obviously, this was news to many, as the Inspector’s comments were reported in several newspapers, with <em>The Age</em> even adding a mischievous headline: <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155796960">“Ladies’ Parlors” Abolished</a>!</p> <p></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Women-and-drink-Age-headline.jpg"><img decoding="async" width="496" height="324" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Women-and-drink-Age-headline.jpg" alt="Newspaper headline reads: Women and drink. Patrons of hotels and cafes. "Ladies' Parlors" abolished." class="wp-image-92564" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Women-and-drink-Age-headline.jpg 496w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Women-and-drink-Age-headline-300x196.jpg 300w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Women-and-drink-Age-headline-269x176.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Women-and-drink-Age-headline-340x222.jpg 340w" sizes="(max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155796960">The Age</a>, 18 July 1925, p14</figcaption></figure></div> <p></p> <p>The idea that pubs were no place for a woman had a long gestation, beginning with the <a href="https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01478b.htm">Temperance movement</a> in the 1880s. Organisations such as the <a href="https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01631b.htm">Women’s Christian Temperance Union</a> argued that hotels were full of ‘vice’ and ‘moral danger’.<span id='easy-footnote-2-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-2-92543' title='Summers, A, 2016, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9933638493607636">Damned Whores and God&#8217;s Police : the Colonisation of Women in Australia</a>, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, NSW, p 502'><sup>2</sup></a></span> The presence of barmaids was also opposed on the basis that they frequently fell victim to ‘temptation’ and were only there as a ‘lure’ for men; to entice them to linger in hotels and drink excessively’.<span id='easy-footnote-3-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-3-92543' title='Anon, 1884, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9912456973607636">Report on the employment of barmaids</a>, J. Ferres, Govt Printer, Melbourne, Vic, p 4. See also Kirkby, D, 1997, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1fc4u04/alma996225563607636">Barmaids: a History of Women&#8217;s Work in Pubs</a>, Cambridge University , Cambridge, p 93, 96'><sup>3</sup></a></span></p> <p>By 1884 the concern about barmaids was so great that the <a href="https://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/other/vic/VicRoyalC/1884/4.html">Victorian Royal Commission</a> recommended that they be banned from working in hotels altogether. The ban did not eventuate, but debate about their presence continued.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/40197"><img decoding="async" width="1024" height="791" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Divided-attention_cropped-1-1024x791.jpg" alt="Painting shows the parlour of a country inn where a young man in riding boots is pretending to listen to an old gentleman when in fact he is more interested in the young lady who is serving them." class="wp-image-92907" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Divided-attention_cropped-1-1024x791.jpg 1024w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Divided-attention_cropped-1-300x232.jpg 300w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Divided-attention_cropped-1-768x593.jpg 768w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Divided-attention_cropped-1-269x208.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Divided-attention_cropped-1-340x263.jpg 340w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Divided-attention_cropped-1-640x494.jpg 640w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Divided-attention_cropped-1.jpg 1278w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>“Divided attention”,</em> Dec 29, 1887; <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9917779703607636">A/S29/12/87/SUPP</a></figcaption></figure></div> <p></p> <p>With the advent of World War I, concerns around the evils of liquor reached fever pitch. A licencing system was introduced for Victoria’s barmaids, and hotels’ trading hours were reduced — initially, to 9.30pm, and then, one year later, to six o’clock.<span id='easy-footnote-4-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-4-92543' title='Harden, M, 2010, &#8216;Unique and deplorable: regulating drinking in Victoria,&#8217; <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1tpraef/alma9910055473607636">Meanjin</a>, vol 69, no 3,p 55'><sup>4</sup></a></span></p> <p>The impact of the latter was profound, as hoardes of workers rushed straight to the pub after work to drink their fill before six o’clock. Hotels and pubs were forced to renovate — removing pool tables, stages and dancefloors, in order to free up more room for the public bar. <span id='easy-footnote-5-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-5-92543' title='Freeland, J M, 1977, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996446753607636">The Australian Pub</a>, Sun Books, Melbourne, p 148'><sup>5</sup></a></span></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/796643"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="821" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/opening-of-new-bar-at-hotel-london-laurie-richards-studio-elizabeth-street-melbourne-victoria-24-jul-1953-1123064-medium-1024x821.jpg" alt="Black and white photo of a crowd of men drinking in a public bar. Two women are tending the bar" class="wp-image-92573" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/opening-of-new-bar-at-hotel-london-laurie-richards-studio-elizabeth-street-melbourne-victoria-24-jul-1953-1123064-medium-1024x821.jpg 1024w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/opening-of-new-bar-at-hotel-london-laurie-richards-studio-elizabeth-street-melbourne-victoria-24-jul-1953-1123064-medium-300x240.jpg 300w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/opening-of-new-bar-at-hotel-london-laurie-richards-studio-elizabeth-street-melbourne-victoria-24-jul-1953-1123064-medium-768x615.jpg 768w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/opening-of-new-bar-at-hotel-london-laurie-richards-studio-elizabeth-street-melbourne-victoria-24-jul-1953-1123064-medium-269x216.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/opening-of-new-bar-at-hotel-london-laurie-richards-studio-elizabeth-street-melbourne-victoria-24-jul-1953-1123064-medium-340x272.jpg 340w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/opening-of-new-bar-at-hotel-london-laurie-richards-studio-elizabeth-street-melbourne-victoria-24-jul-1953-1123064-medium-640x513.jpg 640w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/opening-of-new-bar-at-hotel-london-laurie-richards-studio-elizabeth-street-melbourne-victoria-24-jul-1953-1123064-medium.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/796643">Opening of New Bar at Hotel London, Laurie Richards Studio, Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 24 Jul 1953</a>. Photo by Laurie Richards Studio. Courtesy of Museums Victoria</figcaption></figure></div> <p></p> <p>Sydney barmaid <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/edmonds-catherine-beatrice-caddie-10098">Catherine Beatrice (‘Caddie’) Edmonds</a> described the scene in her autobiography, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996171373607636">Caddie</a>:</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p>It was a long time before I learned to handle that evening rush with any degree of skill. The first arrivals crowded against the counter, less fortunate ones called above their heads, late comers jostled and shouted and swore in an attempt to be served before closing time… We were all flat out serving… My head was splitting my feet were killing me…<span id='easy-footnote-6-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-6-92543' title='Caddie, 1975, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996171373607636">Caddie, a Sydney barmaid: an autobiography written by herself; with an introduction by Dymphna Cusack</a>, Sun Books, Melbourne, p 4. Phillips, W, 1980, &#8216; &#8220;Six o&#8217;clock swill: the introduction of early closing of hotel bars in Australia&#8217;, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma999796303607636">Historical Studies</a>, vol 19, no 75, pp 250'><sup>6</sup></a></span></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Caddie-2.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="251" height="390" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Caddie-2.jpg" alt="Illustration in shades of grey and orange of pretty barmaid serving men in a hotel public bar" class="wp-image-92955" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Caddie-2.jpg 251w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Caddie-2-193x300.jpg 193w" sizes="(max-width: 251px) 100vw, 251px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Cover of a first edition copy of </em><a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma999278893607636">Caddie, a Sydney Barmaid</a></figcaption></figure></div> <p></p> </blockquote> <p>Women were excluded from public bars, and relegated to ‘lounge areas’ instead. These lounges were more genteel in appearance, and were open to both men and women. Often, they did not include a bar, with drinks being despatched through a servery or hatch instead. <span id='easy-footnote-7-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-7-92543' title='Kirkby, Diane, 2005,<a href="https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ANZLawHisteJl/2005/9.html"> &#8216;&#8221;Maxwell&#8217;s Silver Hammer&#8221;: Licensing Laws, Liquor Trading and the Maxwell Royal Commission in NSW 1951-3&#8217;</a>, <em>Australia &amp; New Zealand Law &amp; History E-Journal</em> <em>9</em>, p 119'><sup>7</sup></a></span></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="720" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-1024x720.jpg" alt="Austere interior of a ladies' parlour'. There is a single table with a set of matching chairs, and a serving hatch on the far side of the room" class="wp-image-92910" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-1024x720.jpg 1024w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-300x211.jpg 300w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-768x540.jpg 768w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-1536x1081.jpg 1536w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-2048x1441.jpg 2048w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-269x189.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-340x239.jpg 340w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Golden-Barley-Hotel-Enmore-Ladies-parlour-1-640x450.jpg 640w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1885/211419">Golden Barley Hotel, Enmore Ladies parlour</a> (Enmore, NSW). Courtesy of Noel Butlin Archives Centre</figcaption></figure></div> <p></p> <p>It was thought that a lounge environment would encourage more civilised drinking,<span id='easy-footnote-8-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-8-92543' title='As above p 120'><sup>8</sup></a></span> but Caddie’s vivid description of the scene at a Sydney hotel in 1924 suggests otherwise:</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p>Apart from serving in the bar it was my job to look after the Ladies’ Parlour, two back rooms well away from the bar, specially fitted out with tables and chairs for those females who liked their drop. It was necessary to pass through the room nearest the street to enter the second which, lacking windows, was always musty and stifling. This latter I was to discover was, by some unwritten law, the special reserve of the older women who drank mainly wine and spirits, having reached the stage where nothing weaker could give them the necessary kick. <span id='easy-footnote-9-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-9-92543' title='Caddie, 1975, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996171373607636">Caddie, a Sydney barmaid: an autobiography written by herself; with an introduction by Dymphna Cusack</a>, Sun Books, Melbourne, p 4'><sup>9</sup></a></span></p> </blockquote> <p>Caddie professed to feeling a sense of great shame about her profession as a barmaid, adding that ‘no woman who valued her reputation would have dared to put her nose… into a Ladies’ Parlour.’<span id='easy-footnote-10-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-10-92543' title='As above, p 1'><sup>10</sup></a></span> </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="815" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-1024x815.jpg" alt="Picture of sparsely furnished ladies parlour which includes small tables and chairs and a couple of booths " class="wp-image-92913" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-1024x815.jpg 1024w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-300x239.jpg 300w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-768x611.jpg 768w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-1536x1222.jpg 1536w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-2048x1630.jpg 2048w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-269x214.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-340x271.jpg 340w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Grand-Hotel-Rockdale-Ladies-parlour_ANU-1-640x509.jpg 640w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1885/211493">Grand Hotel, Rockdale Ladies parlour</a> (Sydney, NSW). Courtesy of Noel Butlin Archives Centre</figcaption></figure></div> <p></p> <p>But despite their questionable reputation, by the late 1930s, ladies’ parlours — increasingly known as ladies’ lounges — were an increasingly common sight in Australian hotels. <span id='easy-footnote-11-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-11-92543' title='Kirkby, Diane, 2005,<a href="https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ANZLawHisteJl/2005/9.html">&#8216;&#8221;Maxwell&#8217;s Silver Hammer&#8221;: Licensing Laws, Liquor Trading and the Maxwell Royal Commission in NSW 1951-3&#8217;</a>, <em>Australia &amp; New Zealand Law &amp; History E-Journal</em> <em>9</em>, p 119'><sup>11</sup></a></span> The Library’s newspapers and periodicals are peppered with examples, like this report on the opening of the new Carlton Hotel in Melbourne’s Bourke Street:</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p>A feature has been made of the Ladies’ Lounge with coarse sand surface walls finished in warm cream tints and plaster ceiling with refined mouldings, through prism laylights in which a soft natural light is diffused. Chromium-plated chairs and armchairs… add to the comfort of this lounge. Ladies toilet opens from lounge with tiled floors and walls.<span id='easy-footnote-12-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-12-92543' title='&#8216;Carlton hotel&#8217;, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1tpraef/alma9910222993607636">Decoration and glass</a>, vol 2 no 12 (1 April 1937) p 52'><sup>12</sup></a></span><br /></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><a href="http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/50210"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="808" height="1024" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Carlton-Hotel-808x1024.jpg" alt="Black and whote photo of exterior of the Carlton Hotel in the 1940s" class="wp-image-92578" style="width:840px;height:auto" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Carlton-Hotel-808x1024.jpg 808w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Carlton-Hotel-237x300.jpg 237w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Carlton-Hotel-768x973.jpg 768w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Carlton-Hotel-1212x1536.jpg 1212w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Carlton-Hotel-269x341.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Carlton-Hotel-340x431.jpg 340w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Carlton-Hotel-640x811.jpg 640w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Carlton-Hotel.jpg 1263w" sizes="(max-width: 808px) 100vw, 808px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Carlton Hotel, Melbourne, Victoria</em>, ca 1940-1949; <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/156d4cp/alma9919151303607636">H2009.95/28</a></figcaption></figure></div></blockquote> <p>In June 1940, the same journal reported on the opening of another new pub in Bourke St, the Hotel Devon. The ground floor of the hotel included a ‘public bar, two saloon bars, ladies’ lounge and bottle department.’ The ladies’ lounge had its own private entrance, and was ‘complete with its own toilet and powder room.’<span id='easy-footnote-13-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-13-92543' title='&#8216;Melbourne residential hotel the new Devon is planned on modern lines&#8217;, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1tpraef/alma9910222993607636">Decoration and glass</a>, vol 6, no 2 (1 June 1940), p 21'><sup>13</sup></a></span></p> <p>As the effects of World War II reverberated through Australian society, ladies’ lounges began to enter the mainstream. While men left their jobs to serve in the military, women stepped up to fill the breach, working in factories, offices, garages and shops. (Kirkby, D, 1997, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996225563607636">Barmaids: a history of women’s work in pubs</a>, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, p 164)</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/150387"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="737" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_708-1024x737.jpg" alt="View of two munition workers on production line at NSW factory in or before September 1942. Woman, left, weighs shells after her companion machine-fines each one at base. Both wear overalls, hair turbans and gloves." class="wp-image-92961" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_708-1024x737.jpg 1024w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_708-300x216.jpg 300w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_708-768x553.jpg 768w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_708-1536x1106.jpg 1536w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_708-269x194.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_708-340x245.jpg 340w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_708-640x461.jpg 640w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_708.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Munition making</em>, ca September 1942; <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/156d4cp/alma9939658970007636">H98.105/708</a></figcaption></figure></div> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/435739"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="777" height="1024" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_274_woman-as-flight-rigger-777x1024.jpg" alt="Black and white photo of a woman applying a drill to an aeroplane window frame" class="wp-image-92959" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_274_woman-as-flight-rigger-777x1024.jpg 777w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_274_woman-as-flight-rigger-228x300.jpg 228w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_274_woman-as-flight-rigger-768x1012.jpg 768w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_274_woman-as-flight-rigger-1165x1536.jpg 1165w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_274_woman-as-flight-rigger-269x355.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_274_woman-as-flight-rigger-340x448.jpg 340w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_274_woman-as-flight-rigger-640x843.jpg 640w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/H98.105_274_woman-as-flight-rigger.jpg 1214w" sizes="(max-width: 777px) 100vw, 777px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Australian women during World War II.</em> A C W; <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9939649370707636">H98.105/274</a>. Sybil Conachan, flight rigger, working on a Hudson</figcaption></figure> <p>Eager to exercise their newfound economic independence, women increasingly went to hotels to drink.</p> <p>For the next two decades, ladies’ lounges became a permanent fixture in many Australian pubs, until the emergence of feminism heralded their demise. Women demanded, and eventually won, the right to drink in public bars, and ladies’ lounges gradually disappeared from the landscape.</p> <p>Since then, scholars’ reflections on the phenomenon of the Ladies’ Lounge have varied. Some have argued that the existence of the lounges was a form of social exclusion — ‘forcing’ women to drink in an inferior setting and pay a higher price for their drinks than the men. <span id='easy-footnote-14-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-14-92543' title='Summers, A, Damned Whores and God&#8217;s Police: The Colonization of Women in Australia, Penguin, Ringwood,Vic, 1975, p 82'><sup>14</sup></a></span> Others have suggested that the Ladies’ Lounge was an important social outlet — a place where middle class women could have a drink and a chat while they ‘shelled the peas’ for dinner.<span id='easy-footnote-15-92543' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'></span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='#easy-footnote-bottom-15-92543' title='Wright, C, , 2003, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/eqp282/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_38462614">&#8216;Doing the beans&#8217;: Women, drinking and community in the ladies&#8217; lounge</a>, <em>Journal of Australian Studies</em>, vol 76, pp 5-16'><sup>15</sup></a></span></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/412385"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="821" src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge-photo-1024x821.jpg" alt="Black and white photo of two women sitting having a drink in a ladies' lounge. The lounge is fairly basic, with chrome dining tables and chairs and a laminex floor. " class="wp-image-92575" srcset="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge-photo-1024x821.jpg 1024w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge-photo-300x240.jpg 300w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge-photo-768x615.jpg 768w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge-photo-269x216.jpg 269w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge-photo-340x272.jpg 340w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge-photo-640x513.jpg 640w, https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ladies-Lounge-photo.jpg 1505w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Tallangatta Hotel, interior views</em>, [Nov 1954]. Photo by State Rivers and Water Supply Commission; <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/156d4cp/alma9939663312407636">RWP/16873</a></figcaption></figure></div> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Further reading</h2> <p>Caddie, 1975, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996171373607636">Caddie, a Sydney barmaid: an autobiography written by herself; with an introduction by Dymphna Cusack</a>, Sun Books, Melbourne</p> <p>Kirkby, D, 1997, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996225563607636">Barmaids: a history of women’s work in pubs</a>, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,</p> <p>Wright, C, , 2003, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/eqp282/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_38462614">‘Doing the beans’: Women, drinking and community in the ladies’ lounge</a>, <em>Journal of Australian Studies</em>, vol 76, pp 5-16</p> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">You may also like</h2> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-state-library-victoria wp-block-embed-state-library-victoria"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="7JCk46IDsK"><a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/ask-a-librarian/discovering-dewey-305-42-women-and-their-role-in-society/">Discovering Dewey 305.42: Women and their role in society</a></blockquote><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="“Discovering Dewey 305.42: Women and their role in society” — State Library Victoria " src="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/ask-a-librarian/discovering-dewey-305-42-women-and-their-role-in-society/embed/#?secret=pKlN7XAayy#?secret=7JCk46IDsK" data-secret="7JCk46IDsK" width="600" height="338" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> </div></figure> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">References</h2> <ol class="easy-footnotes-wrapper"><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-1-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>The Library prefers the British spelling of the word ‘parlour’. However, where an historical newspaper has used the American spelling, we have retained the spelling for historical accuracy. This is also the case for the word ‘liquour’.<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-1-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-2-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Summers, A, 2016, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9933638493607636">Damned Whores and God’s Police : the Colonisation of Women in Australia</a>, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, NSW, p 502<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-2-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-3-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Anon, 1884, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9912456973607636">Report on the employment of barmaids</a>, J. Ferres, Govt Printer, Melbourne, Vic, p 4. See also Kirkby, D, 1997, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1fc4u04/alma996225563607636">Barmaids: a History of Women’s Work in Pubs</a>, Cambridge University , Cambridge, p 93, 96<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-3-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-4-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Harden, M, 2010, ‘Unique and deplorable: regulating drinking in Victoria,’ <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1tpraef/alma9910055473607636">Meanjin</a>, vol 69, no 3,p 55<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-4-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-5-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Freeland, J M, 1977, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996446753607636">The Australian Pub</a>, Sun Books, Melbourne, p 148<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-5-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-6-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Caddie, 1975, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996171373607636">Caddie, a Sydney barmaid: an autobiography written by herself; with an introduction by Dymphna Cusack</a>, Sun Books, Melbourne, p 4. Phillips, W, 1980, ‘ “Six o’clock swill: the introduction of early closing of hotel bars in Australia’, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma999796303607636">Historical Studies</a>, vol 19, no 75, pp 250<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-6-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-7-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Kirkby, Diane, 2005,<a href="https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ANZLawHisteJl/2005/9.html"> ‘”Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”: Licensing Laws, Liquor Trading and the Maxwell Royal Commission in NSW 1951-3’</a>, <em>Australia & New Zealand Law & History E-Journal</em> <em>9</em>, p 119<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-7-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-8-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>As above p 120<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-8-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-9-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Caddie, 1975, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma996171373607636">Caddie, a Sydney barmaid: an autobiography written by herself; with an introduction by Dymphna Cusack</a>, Sun Books, Melbourne, p 4<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-9-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-10-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>As above, p 1<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-10-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-11-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Kirkby, Diane, 2005,<a href="https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ANZLawHisteJl/2005/9.html">‘”Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”: Licensing Laws, Liquor Trading and the Maxwell Royal Commission in NSW 1951-3’</a>, <em>Australia & New Zealand Law & History E-Journal</em> <em>9</em>, p 119<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-11-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-12-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>‘Carlton hotel’, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1tpraef/alma9910222993607636">Decoration and glass</a>, vol 2 no 12 (1 April 1937) p 52<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-12-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-13-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>‘Melbourne residential hotel the new Devon is planned on modern lines’, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1tpraef/alma9910222993607636">Decoration and glass</a>, vol 6, no 2 (1 June 1940), p 21<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-13-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-14-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Summers, A, Damned Whores and God’s Police: The Colonization of Women in Australia, Penguin, Ringwood,Vic, 1975, p 82<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-14-92543"></a></li><li class="easy-footnote-single"><span id="easy-footnote-bottom-15-92543" class="easy-footnote-margin-adjust"></span>Wright, C, , 2003, <a href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/eqp282/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_38462614">‘Doing the beans’: Women, drinking and community in the ladies’ lounge</a>, <em>Journal of Australian Studies</em>, vol 76, pp 5-16<a class="easy-footnote-to-top" href="#easy-footnote-15-92543"></a></li></ol><div style='display:none;' class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Ladies in the lounge' data-link='https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/ladies-in-the-lounge/' data-summary='These days, the idea of a 'ladies' lounge' seems archaic, but there was a time not so long ago when they were de rigeur...' data-app-id-name='post_below_content'></div> <div 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