Maiden Australia

During and after World War I, pubs closed early, and returned Australian soldiers routinely moved on to brothels in the early hours of the morning.

One night in Perth, a returned soldier arrived with a loaded gun. He demanded to be let in, raised his fist and fired through the peephole.

Madame Monnier was shot and what happened afterward tells us a lot about the era and how women in her line of work were viewed and treated.

Learn her name. Share her story.

Speakers:

Professor Leigh Straw

April Eva S

Julie Bates

Produced, edited and written by Dr Corey Martin.

IG: @coreystories_

Contact: [email protected]

Post-production Assistance

⁠Seth Delfin⁠

The Petticoat Parade

⁠Available for purchase here⁠

Maiden Australia is recorded on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I’m grateful to be able to connect through stories and to learn and share histories on land that is home to one of the oldest storytelling cultures in the world. Always was, always will be.

This episode explores events that took place on Roe Street, Perth, located on Whadjuk Noongar Country.

Sex work is one of the oldest occupations in the world, and in early twentieth-century Australia, it was one of the few pathways to financial independence for women. It was risky and fraught with corruption, but for many, it was worth it to have a life of their own.

One of those women was Marie Monnier, aka Josie De Bray.

In 1902, she migrates to Australia from Paris without speaking English and with very little money. Within a few years, she owns multiple properties and is known as one of Perth’s most notorious brothel madams.

Learn her name. Share her story.

Speakers:

Professor Leigh Straw

April Eva S

Julie Bates

Produced, edited and written by Dr Corey Martin.

IG: @coreystories_

Contact: [email protected]

Post-production Assistance

Seth Delfin

The Petticoat Parade

Available for purchase here

Maiden Australia is recorded on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I’m grateful to be able to connect through stories and to learn and share histories on land that is home to one of the oldest storytelling cultures in the world. Always was, always will be.

This episode explores events that took place on Roe Street, Perth, located on Whadjuk Noongar Country.

It’s the 1950s in Melbourne: under the Moreton Bay fig in Carlton Gardens, a woman stands before a crowd. The woman’s name is Margaret Tucker: a singer, a writer, an advocate for First Nations people. As she spoke of justice and truth, people listened. Her story is one of unimaginable hardship, and one every Australian must acknowledge. Learn her name. Share her story.

Speakers:

Tania Rossi

Associate Professor Sadie Heckenberg

Associate Professor Jennifer Jones

Produced, edited and written by Dr Corey Martin.

Contact: [email protected]

IG: @coreystories_

If Everyone Cared Enough

Available for purchase here

Maiden Australia is recorded on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect through stories on land that is home to one of the oldest storytelling cultures in the world, and to learn and share histories of Australia - land that always was and always will be Aboriginal.

In 1856, on the Australian Goldfields of Castlemaine, hundreds of rugged miners in dirt-streaked trousers gathered to cast their votes. But among them stood an outlier—Fanny Finch. A business owner. A single mother. A woman of colour. Draped in blue silk with flowers in her hair, Fanny Finch was a strong and defiant character—she stood up for herself and other women. And that made her a target. Learn her name. Share her story.

Speakers:

Kacey Sinclair

Dr Catherine Gay

Lauren Starr @laurenstarrartist

Produced, edited and written by Dr Corey Martin.

Contact: [email protected]

IG: @coreystories_

Shownotes:

- The suggestion that Lydia may have been a woman of colour is speculative and has not yet being confirmed through archival evidence.

Imagine the 1960s: a woman sits in the gutter, a cigarette between her fingers, eyes burning. Rosaleen Norton—Witch, artist, and outsider. To the media and authorities, she was a 'Devil-Worshipper,' a dangerous woman who had to be stopped. She was silenced, ridiculed, and hunted—but not completely forgotten. Learn her name. Share her story.

Speakers:

• ​Professor Marguerite Johnson: Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature
• ​Sonia Bible: The Witch of Kings Cross
• ​Tree Carr: @tree_carr A Spell a Day: 365 Easy Spells, Rituals and Magics for Every Day

Produced, edited and written by Dr Corey Martin.

Contact: [email protected]

IG: @coreystories_

Maiden Australia began as part of my PhD. While researching Australian media, I became aware of the repeated exclusion of women’s lives and labour from historical records and media archives.

While not always obvious, the decision to remember and commemorate some stories over others has had a major influence on our national identity. It impacts who we deem worthy of celebrating, the voices we amplify and the leaders we select. 

As historian Gerda Lerner writes, ‘History is not the past. It is the stories we tell about the past.’ Today, many people still cannot name a single woman from Australia’s history. 

Maiden Australia is an attempt to revive stories long neglected by mainstream history books and storytelling. It seeks to ensure these women are archived, remembered, and accessible for generations to come, so that when we think about the past, we widen our scope. 

I ask that listeners learn their names and share their stories, to bring us one step closer to this vision. .