I visited Australia’s oldest brothel with my mum. It was eye-opening

Never did I imagine I’d visit a brothel with my mum, yet here we are, ready to be enlightened – or corrupted.

Australia’s oldest working brothel, Questa Casa, has been a Kalgoorlie landmark since opening its doors (and many of them) in the late 1890s.

Although prostitution has technically been illegal in Western Australia since 1892, brothels were tolerated in the goldfields town, restricted to Hay Street as part of the containment policy. At the peak of the gold rush, it was one of 18 brothels operating within metres of a police station, enticing miners to spend their riches at all hours. Nowadays, Questa Casa is Kalgoorlie’s last remaining brothel and is regarded as one of the world’s oldest.

Infamously known as the Pink House, the 1904-built white corrugated-iron shed features 11 pale-pink doors known as the “starting stalls” where women would court business. The industrial, Barbie-coloured build is a far cry from the grandeur of the Victorian and Edwardian architecture a few streets away. Still, Questa Casa has wowed visitors for over a century in other, ahem, jaw-dropping ways.

The unlikely tourist attraction

While I may feel somewhat weird visiting a brothel with my mum, given this is our first sex-ed class together, another mother and daughter duo trumps our daring antics.

Prompted by a doctor’s advice to find something rewarding to aid her depression, Queenslander and third-time widow Carmel Galvin, then in her 50s, purchased Questa Casa in 1993. Galvin’s next defining moment came in 2000 when she became a madam, taking over operations. Her daughter, Faun McGowan, soon followed, with the mother-daughter duo working in tandem to run the timeworn brothel.

Over the years, Casa Questa has evolved to be more than a place to seek sexual gratification. With demand for brothels declining due to technological shifts that allow workers to operate privately, Galvin looked elsewhere to help keep doors open and supplement income. In 2003, she launched a brothel tour, exposing the sex lairs that have lured men for over 100 years. Since then, the unlikely historical tourist attraction has enticed all walks of life, intrigued to discover what happens beyond the starting stalls.

If these walls could talk

“We own the place; we are the madams here. We are not working girls, never have. We do everything else here except the entertainment element inside the bedroom,” McGowan says matter-of-factly.

She’s speaking to a darkened room of a dozen people, mostly road-tripping retirees, as she leads the one-hour afternoon tour.

Australia’s only brothel tour provides insight into the former glory days of Questa Casa and reveals its scandalous stories. No questions about the women-run enterprise seem to be off-limits for McGowan.

What’s the age of the eldest worker? 76.
How long were the men in there for? It varies from half an hour to hours on end.
How long did women stay working at Casa Questa? Some stayed for a week, while others stayed for years.
Are there women currently working at the brothel? No – there hasn’t been for a couple of months.
What toys were used? You’ll see them soon.

Saucy confessions soon turn into an X-rated show-and-tell. McGowan passes two dildos – one black and one white, one significantly larger than the other – around the room. Faces light up, people become giddy when holding the pair of rubber phalluses. Eventually, the props land in my mum’s hands. My eyes pop. Seeing my mum wield the dildos feels like worlds colliding. It’s a sight to behold. If seeing her hands full was a moment, what is next showcased would live rent-free in my mind.

Men don’t come here for vanilla sex

The tour moves around the pink house to see where men live out their private fantasies. The four high-ceiling boudoirs are uniform, each with blush-pink walls, leopard duvet-covered double beds and sex toys on standby. Most curiously, all feature a plush toy, including a bare-chested Fireman Sam, used to “break the tension”.

McGowan then leads us to the brothel’s largest and most confronting room to conclude the tour. A vast collection of sex toys and fetish clothing is neatly sprawled out across the bed. Noticing some perplexed faces at this Fifty Shades of Grey-worthy scene, McGowan explains how each risqué item is used and how the upsell value is at the discretion of the worker. Witnessing my mum’s priceless reaction – eyebrows raised, eyes the size of dinner plates in both wonder and confusion – is the happy ending I’m after.

THE DETAILS

FLY
Qantas and Virgin Australia fly to Kalgoorlie from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. See qantas.com.au; virginaustralia.com.au

STAY
Rooms at Discovery Parks, Kalgoorlie Goldfields, from $150 a night. Camping is also available. See discoveryholidayparks.com.au

TOUR
Questa Casa brothel tours are available at 3pm most days from $30. See questacasa.com

MORE
australiasgoldenoutback.com

The writer was a guest of Australia’s Golden Outback and Discovery Parks.