Little Lonsdale Street is located in the centre of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria, Australia. A part of the

Hoddle Grid The Hoddle Grid is the contemporary name given to the approximately grid of streets that form the Melbourne central business district, Australia. Bounded by Flinders Street, Spring Street, La Trobe Street, and Spencer Street, it lies at a ...

, it runs roughly east–west. North of

Lonsdale Street Lonsdale Street is a main street and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and was laid out in 1837 as one of Melbourne's original boundaries within the Hoddle Grid. The street ext ...

and south of

La Trobe Street La Trobe Street (also Latrobe Street) is a major street and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and forms the northern boundary of the central business district. The street ...

, Little Lonsdale Street's eastern end intersects with Spring Street while its western end intersects with

Spencer Street Spencer Street is a major street and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, Victoria, Australia. The street was gazetted in 1837 as the westernmost boundary of the Hoddle Grid. Spencer Street is named for John Spencer, forme ...

. It was named after William Lonsdale, the first administrator and magistrate in Melbourne. Unlike the other little streets, it runs one-way in the easterly direction, not the west. In the nineteenth century, the eastern end of the street ran through a notorious "red light district", known as " Little Lon". It was associated with prostitution, petty crime and "

larrikinism Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning "a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good-hearted person", or "a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions". In the 19th and early 20th centurie ...

".Justin McCarthy (1989). ''The Commonwealth Block, Melbourne: Archaeological Investigation Report. Volume 1: Historical and Archaeological Report''. p.55. Australian Construction Services prepared for The Department of Administrative Services and Telecom Australia

References

Streets in Melbourne City Centre {{australia-road-stub

See also

References