Curious tourists can learn about Kalgoorlie's colourful past thanks to 80-year-old Carmel who runs tours of the brothel she's owned for 25 years.
But just how did this well spoken woman from the Gold Coast end up becoming a madam of the Questa Casa, also known as The Pink House?
Starting anew
When Carmel suddenly found herself a widow for the second time in her mid-50’s she describes falling into a "deep depression".
“I went to my doctor and I said, ‘I think my hormones need adjusting’ because I was so depressed and she said, ‘there's nothing the matter with your hormones, you get out and do something with your life’,” Carmel told Insight.
So she started looking for businesses to buy.
And that’s when an anonymous letter caught her eye.
"Marlene, one of the madams in Kalgoorlie, wants to sell her galvanised iron brothel but anyone who buys it will have to pass a strict police test," Carmel says of the letter.
She initially laughed off the idea and forgot about it, but when the letter kept resurfacing she decided it was a sign and rung the Kalgoorlie police to enquire.
“Well look, when I was thinking of buying it I rang my daughter up in Queensland and I said, ‘darling, I'm thinking of buying a brothel’ and she said ‘whatever makes you happy mum’.”
So at 55 Carmel became a madam - although not everyone knew the truth behind her new career path.
“Only she [daughter] and my doctor knew that I'd bought a brothel. I told all my friends that I'd bought a boarding house in Kalgoorlie and they all said, ‘how wonderful, we'll come and visit you’,” Carmel says.
Adapting to change
Naturally there was a lot for Carmel to learn when she became a madam, but it was the end of containment that really tested her.
It was 1910 when police issued a ‘containment policy’ in the area making Hay St, where Questa Casa can be found, the town’s official red light district.
The girls are all somebody else's daughter and when they're in the house with me they're safe.”
“Nobody worked in Hay Street unless they had the permission of the police to work there and none of the madams could sell their brothels unless they had the permission of the police to sell them,” she says.
When that policy ended in 2000, Carmel says the work started to decline. She also blames a sex driven society for her lack of business.
“Sex has become so casual, you know, everybody is taught sex, the children are taught sex. All the newspapers have sex ads in them,” she says.
When she took over the business she had 10 girls working for her, now there are only two left.
So Carmel got creative to keep the business afloat and that’s how her idea of running tours was born.
“It's the tours that keep our heads above water, that's the most important business in the house.”
Looking ahead
While no one would blame Carmel for packing up and retiring she has no intention of saying goodbye to her business.
“Look, I love the town, I love the people, I've got a lot of friends there. The madams in Kalgoorlie were always well thought of,” she says.
“I'm always there for the girls. The girls are all somebody else's daughter and when they're in the house with me they're safe.”
This week Insight looks at what it takes to stay in a changing workforce. | The Late Shift - Tuesday 17 October, 8.30pm SBS
Carmel appears in the 2017 Australian documentary, The Pink House, which will be in cinemas from the 1 November’ .
