Beautiful ladies, pretty lights -- A history of Kalgoorlie's brothels

Discovery of gold in Kalgoorlie, Australia in 1893 brought a rush of prospectors seeking their fortune. With the ratio of men to women in the fledgling town one hundred to one, prostitution flourished, and Kalgoorlie's reputation as a Wild West 'sin city' was born. Authorities herded the brothels into one section of town and re-named that part of the street 'Hay Street' -- in order to differentiate it from 'respectable' establishments in the rest of the street, like the courthouse and the police station! In the early part of the 20th century, there were as many as twenty-five brothels in Hay Street, and as Kalgoorlie grew and prospered, reaction to the blatant trade in flesh was wide and varied -- ranging from the belief that Kalgoorlie was a 'safer' place because of the brothels, right through to outrage at the 'hordes of immoral women'. These days, prostitution's dying, and the three remaining brothels see as many tourists as they do clients -- the visitors curious to see the famous 'starting stalls', visit the bedrooms, and hear lurid stories of colourful encounter.