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‘White Slaves’ and White Australia: prostitution and Australian Society1

2004; Routledge; Volume: 19; Issue: 44 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0816464042000226483

1465-3303

Raelene Frances,

Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes This article is based on research for a larger project on the history of prostitution in Australia since 1788, funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant. The author would also like to thank Tony Harris for invaluable research assistance funded by this grant, and Bruce Scates, who read and commented on an earlier draft of this article. Loui Fraser was also incredibly generous in sharing her account of the Joy story, as well as her collection of newspaper clippings and television documentaries. This account is based on Loui Fraser's unpublished manuscript, 'Joy's Story'. See also Sydney Morning Herald, 18 November 1995; Wentworth Courier, 22 November 1995. Letter from Joel Johnson, Parks Development Manager, South Sydney Council, to Loui Fraser, 28 May 1997. Video interviews conducted by Lisa Molloy, 17 May 1996. Indeed, Joy's image, with angel's wings, adorned the Sex Workers Outreach Project's (SWOP) 1998 Christmas card, with the words 'Joy to the World' inside. Video interview conducted by Lisa Molloy, 17 May 1996. '1169/02—Inquest into the Death of Puang Thong Simaplee: Coroner's Finding', Westmead Coroner's Court, 24 April 2003 (conducted by Deputy State Coroner, Carl Milovanovich). 'Simaplee Inquest', p. 3. 'Simaplee Inquest', p. 4. 'Simaplee Inquest', p. 4. 'Simaplee Inquest', p. 19. 'Simaplee Inquest', p. 17. For example, 'Death Exposes Agony of Sex Slaves', Weekend Australian, 15–16 March 2003. Also Ruddock's reply to these allegations, Australian, 20 May 2003. 'Sunny', cited in Linda Brockett and Alison Murray, 'Thai Sex Workers in Sydney' in Roberta Perkins et al. (eds), Sex Work and Sex Workers in Australia (University of New South Wales Press) Kensington, 1994, p. 195. This account is based on the research of Brockett and Murray, 'Thai Sex Workers in Sydney', pp. 191–202; see also Linda Meaker, 'A Social Response to Transnational Prostitution in Queensland, Australia' in Susan Thorbek and Bandana Pattanak (eds), Transnational Prostitution: Changing Patterns in a Global Context (Zed Books) London, 2002; Kerry Carrington and Jane Hearn, 'Trafficking and the Sex Industry: From Impunity to Protection', Current Issues Brief, no. 28, 2002–03, Department of the Parliamentary Library, Canberra; Steve Butcher, 'State to Pursue Brothel Operators on Slavery Charges', Age, 1 August 2003. C. Sissons, 'Karayuki‐San: Japanese Prostitutes in Australia 1887–1916—I', Historical Studies, vol. 17, no. 68, April 1977, p. 339. James Warren, Ah Ku and Karayuki‐san: Prostitution in Singapore 1870–1940 (Oxford University Press) Oxford, 1993, p. 75. Y. Tomoko, 'Sandakan No. 8 Brothel', Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, vol. 5, no. 8, 1975, p. 52. Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 1907, p. 1587, cited in Clive Moore, '"A Precious Few": Melanesian and Asian Women in Northern Australia' in Kay Saunders and Raymond Evans (eds), Gender Relations in Australia: Domination and Negotiation (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich) Sydney, 1992, p. 69. Susan Jane Hunt, Spinifex and Hessian: Women's Lives in North‐western Australia 1860–1900 (University of Western Australia Press) Nedlands, Western Australia, 1979, chapter 5. Report by Police Commissioner W.E. Parry‐Okeden, February 1899, quoted in Raymond Evans, ' "Soiled Doves": Prostitution in Colonial Queensland' in Kay Daniels, So Much Hard Work: Women and Prostitution in Australian History (Fontana/Collins) Melbourne, 1984, p. 139. Parry‐Okeden, February 1899, quoted in Evans, ' "Soiled Doves" ', p. 139. See Bulletin cartoon, 7 January 1904, reproduced in Moore, "A Precious Few", p. 68. Sunday Times, 24 August 1902, p. 5; 14 September 1902. Raelene Davidson (now Frances), 'Prostitution in Perth and Fremantle and on the Eastern Goldfields, 1895–1939', MA thesis, University of Western Australia, 1980, p. 172; Police vs Loubens, Kalgoorlie Police Court Minutes, 18 May 1900, Battye Library, acc. no. 1340/12. See police reports of men observed visiting the premises of Molly Young, Kalgoorlie Police Court Minutes, 17 October 1910, Battye Library, acc. no. 1340/22. Detectives reported making extensive inquiries regarding allegations of coercion during 1898, Kalgoorlie Detectives Occurrence Book, 20 October 1898. See also report 1 April 1903. Witness Statement of Doris Williams, 13 July 1910, London Metropolitan Police, Public Record Office, Kew, MEPO 3/197. Hon. R.H. Underwood, Western Australian Parliamentary Debates: Legislative Assembly, vol. 51, 7 September 1915, p. 637. The most recent account of this episode is Stuart Macintyre, The Reds: the Communist Party of Australia from Origins to Illegality (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1998, pp. 270–3. National Archives of Australia (NAA) Series A1108, item vol. 31. Sheila Jeffreys, The Idea of Prostitution (Spinifex) Melbourne, 1997, chapter 1, contains a brief history of these international conventions. Letter from Millicent Garrett Fawcett to Andrew Fisher, 17 November 1913, NAA Series A1/1, item 1915/5651. Letter from the Prime Minister to Miss A.B. Witham, Hon. Secretary, Women's Non‐Party Political Association of South Australia, 13 November 1913, NAA Series A1108, item 31. NAA Series A1, item 1915/5651; also NAA Series A1108, item vol. 31. Letter from J. Scadden, Premier of Western Australia, to Prime Minister, 6 July 1914, NAA Series A1108, item vol. 31. See also Raelene Frances, 'Australian Prostitution in International Context', Australian Historical Studies, no. 106, April 1996, pp. 129–30. NAA Series CP78/23/1, item 14/89/252 Pt 1; Bruce Scates and Raelene Frances, Women and the Great War (Cambridge University Press) Cambridge, 1997, chapter 6. Judith Smart, 'The Great War and the "Scarlet Scourge": Debates about Venereal Diseases in Melbourne during World War I' in Judith Smart and Tony Wood (eds), An Anzac Muster: War and Society in Australia and New Zealand 1914–18 and 1939–45 (Monash Publications in History) Clayton, 1992, pp. 58–85. The first two conventions (1904 and 1910) were administered by the French government. Letter from H.E. Jones, Director, Attorney‐General's Department, to the Secretary, Home and Territories Department, 29 July 1927, NAA Series 2998/1, item 51/576. Letter from H.E. Jones, Director, Attorney‐General's Department, to the Secretary, Home and Territories Department, 29 July 1927, NAA Series 2998/1, item 51/576. International Bureau for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children, Congress Reports, London, 1930, cited in Jeffreys, The Idea of Prostitution, p. 24. Smiths' Weekly, 20 April 1929. Sun Pictorial, 20 April 1929. Sun Pictorial, 20 April 1929. Argus, 13 July 1928. Age, 13 July 1928. Advertiser, 13 July 1928. Extract from Vigilance Record, March–April 1929, in International Bureau for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women Papers, Josephine Butler Archives, Fawcett Library, London, ms. 4/1BS, box 112. Letter from G.P. Finlay, Barrister and Solicitor, Wellington, New Zealand, to the Attorney‐General of the Commonwealth of Australia, 11 November 1936, NAA Series A432/85, item 36/1360. The Mabel Freer case is documented in the following files, held at the National Archives in Canberra: Series CP 290/1/1, item 16; Series A422/85, item 43/1139; Series A432/85, item 36/1360; Series A5954/1, item 973/13. Letter from G.P. Finlay, Barrister and Solicitor, Wellington, New Zealand, to the Attorney‐General of the Commonwealth of Australia, 11 November 1936, NAA Series A432/85, item 36/1360.