H
Historian
Was it all plain sailing?
Visions in Leisure and Business
Volume 14 | Issue 3
1995
Hedonists, Ladies and Larrikins: Crime, Prostitution and the 1987 America's Cup
Colin Michael Hall
University of Canberra
John Selwood
University of Winnipeg
Elaine McKewon
Article 4
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/visionsRecommended Citation
Hall, Colin Michael; Selwood, John; and McKewon, Elaine (1995) "Hedonists, Ladies and Larrikins: Crime, Prostitution and the 1987 America's Cup," Visions in Leisure and Business: Vol. 14 : Iss. 3 , Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/visions/vol14/iss3/4
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies at ScholarWorks@BGSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Visions in Leisure and Business by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@BGSU.
HEDONISTS,LADIESANDLARRIKINS: CRIME,PROSTITUTIONAND THE 1987 AMERICA'S CUP
BY
COLIN MICHAEL HALL, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
CENTRE FOR TOURISM AND LEISURE POLICY RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA
PO BOX1 BELCONNEN
ACT 2616
AUSTRALIA
ABSTRACT
This article examines crime and prostitution within the context of the hosting of a hallmark tourist event--the 1987 America's Cup Defence in Fremantle, Western Australia. Although there are substantial difficulties in undertaking research on prostitution, the authors observe there was a substantial increase in prostitution in the
.. Perth metropolitan area during the Cup defence. Similarly, official police statistics indicate that criminal activity was also affected by the hosting of the Cup. However, evidence also suggests that the Cup may have contributed to a more permanent impact on social mores and the
expression of anti-social behaviour in Perth and Fremantle.
...
Until 1959 Roe Street was an acknowledged focus of the prostitution trade in Perth. At this time properties used as brothels became vested in the Commonwealth and were sold, leading to their dispersal into the area now known as Northbridge (Perth's nightclub district) and into the suburbs (86, 95). Despite periodic disruption, the prostitution industry has continued to thrive in Perth in the form of massage parlours and escort agencies (86). The port of Fremantle by its very function has served the sexual needs of visiting sailors and continues to do so (22, p. 186). However, the level of activity in the local area appreciably increased during the period of the America's Cup.
THE IMPACT OF THE AMERICA'S CUP
Western Australia's hosting of the 1987 America's Cup defence was heralded by both Government and private industry alike as a major component of the economic development of the State. Hallmark events, such as the America's Cup, have a primary function of providing the host community with an opportunity to secure high prominence in the world tourism market place (34, 40). To this end, the State and Federal Governments allocated many millions of dollars to build the necessary infrastructure to help ensure the success of the event in attracting tourists. In addition, a number of steps were taken to bring Perth's social attractions more into line with the perceived expectations of the tourist trade.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the America's Cup was the extent to which the State Government relaxed State laws in order to cater for the perceived "needs" of the international tourist. The Burswood Island Resort and Casino Complex, for
32
instance, was rushed through the planning process without the appropriate environmental impact assessments being undertaken until after construction was underway. Within the Perth metropolitan area, shopping hours were extended for the duration of the Cup so as to provide retailers with more opportunity to capture the tourist dollar. However, the new trading hours were removed once the Cup period was over (40). Although in 1994 the West Australian Tourism Commission again moved to deregulate trading hours in order to cater for perceived tourist demand. According to the Commission "For WA to remain com petitive as a tourist destination, it must keep pace with social change and deregulate
shopping hours in tourist precincts" (96).
Hotels, taverns and nightclubs were able to obtain special licenses to remain open over a greatly increased number of hours of the week. Interestingly, such establishments have traditionally provided entertainment bordering on the illegal (55). Perth's licensed premises offered the America's Cup visitors the modem-day equivalent of bear baiting, ratting and cock-fighting in the form of women's jelly-wrestling, striptease and topless barmaids. Relative to the sorts of sex-shows available in the world's more infamous entertainment districts Perth's offerings appear rather tame. Nevertheless, after the Cup was lost, a renewed concern for the public morality emerged, leading to a crackdown on hotel striptease and "see through barmaids" (refers to their transparent clothing) and their removal from the less-pretentious hotel establishments. However, while the Cup was in progress, visitors and locals alike could enjoy the
(7 8):
"Perth has certainly come a long way since the bad old days when after dark the visitor was confined to a few spots offering rather dubious kinds of entertainment ... W.A.'s 'Cinderella' epithet has more recently been replaced by the 'State of Excitement--Home of the America's Cup'... And as you'll soon discover after dark, Perth certain!y is an exciting fun place to be".
Given the contents of the Directory, the above comments are particularly pertinent. If the visitor to Western Australia, for whom the booklet was designed, took then State Premier Burke's recommendation on the frontispiece to "familiarise yourself with the contents of this complimentary guide and carry it with you at all times. It will help you achieve maximum enjoyment of your visit ...", then they could not but help notice the four pages of advertisements for some fourteen escort agencies. Almost without exception, these advertisements promoted sexual services of one form or another. Premier Burke's endorsement of the contents of the Directory did not go unchallenged by the Parliamentary Opposition, which led to a heated exchange in the State Legislature. However, although the debate addressed the question of the Western Australian Tourist Commission's position on prostitution, strip shows and the like, it failed come to grips with the issue of tacit support of such acttv1t1es by the Government (87). Similarly, the glossy Perth and Fremantle'What's on This Week' (56) devoted several prime pages at the rear of the booklet to lavishly illustrated advertisements of escort agencies with the following enticements:
"If you have ever wondered what it's like to be spoilt and pampered ... try a little bit of heaven ..." (p. 70) "When only the best will do" (p. 69)
33
fruits of achieving a place, albeit temporarily, on the world tourism map.
According to the Official America's Cup
Directrny
"Pleasing you ... pleases us" (p. 69) "beautiful companions for discerning gentlemen" (p. 67),
"visiting massage by Perth's most beautiful ladies" (p. 68)
In anticipation of the increased v1s1tors expected to be drawn to the Cup, the sex oriented segment of the hospitality industry geared up to cater to a dramatic influx of tourists to the region. An advertisement in the Sunday Times personal column (71)stated, "Now that the casino is here and the America's Cup is close we need keen adventurous girls who enjoy meeting top line business executives etc. Various levels of income depending on your ambitions. All nationalities welcome ...". Evidently, the expected "tourist boom" associated with the Cup stimulated growth within the sex industry sector of the economy.
Prostitution, that is, the act of the selling of sexual favours, is not illegal in Western Australia. Although prostitution is not against the law, "many acts ancillary to it are" (25). These offences include soliciting, keeping a brothel, and living off the earnings of prostitution (25). While brothel workers' legal status may be a somewhat "grey" area, private workers are in fact working safely within state laws. Private workers were the one group that did increase during the America's Cup--in fact, the only sex workers in WA operating with an unequivocally legal status.
Prostitution in Western Australia exists in several forms: brothels and massage parlours, escort agencies, single private operators, street prostitution and child prostitution. However, an exact account of the number of persons acting as prostitutes is exceedingly difficult to provide, "due to a number of factors including the ubiquitous and changing nature of prostitution and the
movement by prostitutes in and out of the profession and between different settings" (25). Nevertheless, indirect measures of prostitution can be gained from the advertisements of brothels, escort agencies and private workers and from interviews with individuals who are involved in the sex industry.
Under the West Australian police policy of containment and conditional tolerance the police aim "to contain the number of operators of such premises [brothels] to an acceptable and manageable level, whilst achieving a maximum level in standards of conduct and health with minimum public inconvenience or nuisance" (24). Prostitutes are required to contact the vice squad if they wish to work. Women wishing to work in either a brothel or an escort agency are required to register themselves with the vice squad and provide a set of personal details. Single operators are not required to "officially register" (25), although it is apparent that the police do maintain a record of their activities.
The Commissioner of Police does not publicly provide statistics on the number of prostitutes working in Western Australia. According to the Commissioner, approximately one hundred and twenty single operator prostitutes were registered with the vice squad as of June 30, 1986 (15). This figure represented an increase of one hundred per cent over the previous year. The dramatic increase may perhaps be attributed to the heavier demands expected to be placed on the local prostitution industry through the large influx of Cup visitors. Although media reports that 500 eastern states' prostitutes had arrived in Western Australia for the Cup period were probably exaggerated, there seems little doubt that there was a significant increase in the level of prostitution (33, 40).
34
The number of prostitutes in Perth and Fremantle for the duration of the Cup was impossible to determine with a high degree of accuracy. Prostitutes are highly mobile and often work within the industry on a temporary or intermittent basis. The investigation of the America's Cup period was also complicated by the appearance of "enthusiastic amateurs" or "groupies" caught up in the excitement of the event and the possibility of gaining short-term income by working in the sex industry. The most substantial methodological problem was that efforts to obtain data from "official sources", such as the police and health authorities, proved completely unfruitful. Indeed, while figures are kept it is highly likely that release of them would have the potential to be politically embarrassing to the government. Similarly, managers of escort agencies and massage parlours were
generally unwilling to discuss their operations officially, particularly after having been the object of some media publicity (27, 31). Interviews were conducted with high-ranking officials of the police and health services, State Parliamentarians, medical workers, hotel employees, taxi-drivers and members of the hospitality and entertainment industry. However, it should be noted that because of the sensitive nature of the subject, no one who was interviewed wish to be quoted in an official context and while useful information was obtained it could not be sourced because of the danger of breaking interviewee anonymity.
Interviewee's statements ranged from the remark that "prostitution does not exist in Perth" to, "I had never seen streetwalkers in Fremantle, before or since the Cup". Given suchinformationthatwewereabletoobtain and through cross-checking of sources, we are confident that the latter comment was more representative of the actual situation.
Taxi-drivers reported increased business to and from escort, massage and brothel destinations, along with a rise in prices charged for services. According to our sources, demand was so great during peak periods that there were line-ups in the brothels of Fremantle. There were also complaints that "enthusiastic amateurs" were depriving "working girls" of business and that the Perth brothels did not attract the same level of trade as those in the Fremantle area.
The West Australian Police Department (58) did expect "an influx of criminals and prostitutes to prey on [tourists]", and a newspaper article subsequently reported on the arrival of prostitutes from Asia and the eastern states of Australia for the Cup (28). Mr. Kim Flatman, a director of Rochdale Nominees which owned the Fremantle Fitness Studio, claimed that 500 prostitutes had arrived from the eastern states of Australia. This figure was later forcefully denied by Mr. Flatman's wife, "one of the city's leading brothel keepers", on the grounds that her husband was merely the accountant and knew nothing of the day-to day running of the business. Furthermore, the enforcement of the income tax laws in Western Australia that required prostitutes to pay tax made it, "virtually impossible to attract women from the eastern states" (90). Indeed, the precise number of arrivals did appear to have been inflated. However, a police inquiry into the matter which may have clarified the situation was not made available to the public.
In order to assist in ascertaining the level of prostitution that existed during the Cup period, a study of private agents and their locations was conducted with respect to local newspaper advertisements of January 1986, 1987 and 1988 (Table 1). It is evident from this table that there was a new flow of
35
private agents into Fremantle and its nearby suburbs during the America's Cup, for example Bateman and Palmyra, which was not maintained in the following year. Most Fremantle agents specifically advertised their location. Private agents also chose areas such as Jandakot (site of Perth's small aircraft airport) and the wealthier riverside suburbs, most notably Nedlands where the Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC) is located. As the defending organisation of the Cup, the RPYC held several members' social functions throughout the event in Nedlands and Fremantle, perhaps creating an additional demand for dinner/social escorts. At least one upmarket Containment brothel offered "Dinner Companions" during the America's Cup (73), a service normally rarely advertised at all. A total of 82 private agents were found in the advertisements in January 1987, a 50% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, the Vice Squad reported that it was aware of 180 private agents operating that year, also a 50% increase from their previous year's figures(16).
There was no increase in the number of Containment premises during 1987 and, somewhat surprisingly, no evidence of increases in the number of massage parlours or escort agencies; a total of nine non containment agencies advertised each year in 1986 and 1987. On the question of increases in business during the America's Cup, Mrs Dorrie Flatman, owner of a containment brothel in Fremantie, commented that business did not increase substantially during the event, and that the Perth brothels lost business due to the constant enticement of Fremantle's night life. She also confirmed that she had not heard of any new escort agencies or massage parlours during the Cup, apart from a few private agents that she was aware of at the time. Mrs. Flatman concluded that business
growth during the Cup, as far as the brothels were concerned, was unremarkable.
In 1988 however, advertisements beckoning clients to a number of Containment brothels told a different story. The brothels now boasted extensive renovations to their premises--"New Luxury Surroundings," "New Executive Premises," and "The Dungeon--Now Available"--in the �Sunday Times (74). From the enquiries of the authors, it appeared that the timing of this apparently costly upgrading at several premises indicated rather a more productive previous year for the brothels of Perth and Fremantie.
Meanwhile, private agents appeared to have migrated away from the "hot spots" of sporting activity by January 1988, most notably ag�n in Fremantle and its surrounding suburbs, as well as Nedlands. The total number of private agents advertising at that time had also been reduced to 60. In 1990, the Vice Squad reported a decrease of 50% from their 1987 figures, estimating that 120 private agents were operating in the Perth metropolitan area. It was also revealed that only 13 tolerated brothels remained under the Containment Policy, employing 190 women (19).
Overall, the demand for sexual services seems to have increased and diversified during the America's Cup, and related to this would also be the up-market social component associate4 with the event. The number of private agents increased 50% in 1987, and those suburbs most affected were Fremantle, Nedlands and nearby upmarket suburbs. The Cup also created a demand for more sociaVdinner escort services, with at least one Containment brothel strongly courting this market. Another three brothels were upgraded in the year following the
36
Cup. This evidence strongly suggests that business significantly increased for the sex industry as a result of the America's Cup, but resumed pre-Cup levels of activity thereafter.
CRIME
The hosting of the America's Cup appeared to have a substantial impact on the West Australian crime rates. A number of crimes experienced a higher than average increase during 1987, and then decreased before resuming their usual patterns of annual increase (Table 2). This pattern is most clearly evident in the case of stealing with violence. Other crimes similarly influenced during 1987 included indecent assault, break and enter, damage, stealing and total offences. While these crimes decreased in the year following the America's Cup, other offences continued on a steady upward trend following their higher than average increases of 1987. These offences included common assault, serious assault and sexual assault.
Certainly, other crimes did not increase at a higher rate than average in 1987, and did not fit into any convincing pattern to mark the Cup year. However, there is reason to believe from interviews and media sources that the statistics in some categories were significantly underestimated. Had street drinking not been vastly under reported during the America's Cup, for example (16, 51), this offence probably would have presented a similar pattern to those found in terms of assaults.
Evidence of the impacts of the hosting of the America's Cup on criminal and illegal activity in the Fremantle area is substantial. According to the West Australian Police Force's America's Cup Division (1):
Visions in Leisure and Business
Volume 14 | Issue 3
1995
Hedonists, Ladies and Larrikins: Crime, Prostitution and the 1987 America's Cup
Colin Michael Hall
University of Canberra
John Selwood
University of Winnipeg
Elaine McKewon
Article 4
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/visionsRecommended Citation
Hall, Colin Michael; Selwood, John; and McKewon, Elaine (1995) "Hedonists, Ladies and Larrikins: Crime, Prostitution and the 1987 America's Cup," Visions in Leisure and Business: Vol. 14 : Iss. 3 , Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/visions/vol14/iss3/4
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies at ScholarWorks@BGSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Visions in Leisure and Business by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@BGSU.
HEDONISTS,LADIESANDLARRIKINS: CRIME,PROSTITUTIONAND THE 1987 AMERICA'S CUP
BY
COLIN MICHAEL HALL, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
CENTRE FOR TOURISM AND LEISURE POLICY RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA
PO BOX1 BELCONNEN
ACT 2616
AUSTRALIA
ABSTRACT
This article examines crime and prostitution within the context of the hosting of a hallmark tourist event--the 1987 America's Cup Defence in Fremantle, Western Australia. Although there are substantial difficulties in undertaking research on prostitution, the authors observe there was a substantial increase in prostitution in the
.. Perth metropolitan area during the Cup defence. Similarly, official police statistics indicate that criminal activity was also affected by the hosting of the Cup. However, evidence also suggests that the Cup may have contributed to a more permanent impact on social mores and the
expression of anti-social behaviour in Perth and Fremantle.
...
Until 1959 Roe Street was an acknowledged focus of the prostitution trade in Perth. At this time properties used as brothels became vested in the Commonwealth and were sold, leading to their dispersal into the area now known as Northbridge (Perth's nightclub district) and into the suburbs (86, 95). Despite periodic disruption, the prostitution industry has continued to thrive in Perth in the form of massage parlours and escort agencies (86). The port of Fremantle by its very function has served the sexual needs of visiting sailors and continues to do so (22, p. 186). However, the level of activity in the local area appreciably increased during the period of the America's Cup.
THE IMPACT OF THE AMERICA'S CUP
Western Australia's hosting of the 1987 America's Cup defence was heralded by both Government and private industry alike as a major component of the economic development of the State. Hallmark events, such as the America's Cup, have a primary function of providing the host community with an opportunity to secure high prominence in the world tourism market place (34, 40). To this end, the State and Federal Governments allocated many millions of dollars to build the necessary infrastructure to help ensure the success of the event in attracting tourists. In addition, a number of steps were taken to bring Perth's social attractions more into line with the perceived expectations of the tourist trade.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the America's Cup was the extent to which the State Government relaxed State laws in order to cater for the perceived "needs" of the international tourist. The Burswood Island Resort and Casino Complex, for
32
instance, was rushed through the planning process without the appropriate environmental impact assessments being undertaken until after construction was underway. Within the Perth metropolitan area, shopping hours were extended for the duration of the Cup so as to provide retailers with more opportunity to capture the tourist dollar. However, the new trading hours were removed once the Cup period was over (40). Although in 1994 the West Australian Tourism Commission again moved to deregulate trading hours in order to cater for perceived tourist demand. According to the Commission "For WA to remain com petitive as a tourist destination, it must keep pace with social change and deregulate
shopping hours in tourist precincts" (96).
Hotels, taverns and nightclubs were able to obtain special licenses to remain open over a greatly increased number of hours of the week. Interestingly, such establishments have traditionally provided entertainment bordering on the illegal (55). Perth's licensed premises offered the America's Cup visitors the modem-day equivalent of bear baiting, ratting and cock-fighting in the form of women's jelly-wrestling, striptease and topless barmaids. Relative to the sorts of sex-shows available in the world's more infamous entertainment districts Perth's offerings appear rather tame. Nevertheless, after the Cup was lost, a renewed concern for the public morality emerged, leading to a crackdown on hotel striptease and "see through barmaids" (refers to their transparent clothing) and their removal from the less-pretentious hotel establishments. However, while the Cup was in progress, visitors and locals alike could enjoy the
(7 8):
"Perth has certainly come a long way since the bad old days when after dark the visitor was confined to a few spots offering rather dubious kinds of entertainment ... W.A.'s 'Cinderella' epithet has more recently been replaced by the 'State of Excitement--Home of the America's Cup'... And as you'll soon discover after dark, Perth certain!y is an exciting fun place to be".
Given the contents of the Directory, the above comments are particularly pertinent. If the visitor to Western Australia, for whom the booklet was designed, took then State Premier Burke's recommendation on the frontispiece to "familiarise yourself with the contents of this complimentary guide and carry it with you at all times. It will help you achieve maximum enjoyment of your visit ...", then they could not but help notice the four pages of advertisements for some fourteen escort agencies. Almost without exception, these advertisements promoted sexual services of one form or another. Premier Burke's endorsement of the contents of the Directory did not go unchallenged by the Parliamentary Opposition, which led to a heated exchange in the State Legislature. However, although the debate addressed the question of the Western Australian Tourist Commission's position on prostitution, strip shows and the like, it failed come to grips with the issue of tacit support of such acttv1t1es by the Government (87). Similarly, the glossy Perth and Fremantle'What's on This Week' (56) devoted several prime pages at the rear of the booklet to lavishly illustrated advertisements of escort agencies with the following enticements:
"If you have ever wondered what it's like to be spoilt and pampered ... try a little bit of heaven ..." (p. 70) "When only the best will do" (p. 69)
33
fruits of achieving a place, albeit temporarily, on the world tourism map.
According to the Official America's Cup
Directrny
"Pleasing you ... pleases us" (p. 69) "beautiful companions for discerning gentlemen" (p. 67),
"visiting massage by Perth's most beautiful ladies" (p. 68)
In anticipation of the increased v1s1tors expected to be drawn to the Cup, the sex oriented segment of the hospitality industry geared up to cater to a dramatic influx of tourists to the region. An advertisement in the Sunday Times personal column (71)stated, "Now that the casino is here and the America's Cup is close we need keen adventurous girls who enjoy meeting top line business executives etc. Various levels of income depending on your ambitions. All nationalities welcome ...". Evidently, the expected "tourist boom" associated with the Cup stimulated growth within the sex industry sector of the economy.
Prostitution, that is, the act of the selling of sexual favours, is not illegal in Western Australia. Although prostitution is not against the law, "many acts ancillary to it are" (25). These offences include soliciting, keeping a brothel, and living off the earnings of prostitution (25). While brothel workers' legal status may be a somewhat "grey" area, private workers are in fact working safely within state laws. Private workers were the one group that did increase during the America's Cup--in fact, the only sex workers in WA operating with an unequivocally legal status.
Prostitution in Western Australia exists in several forms: brothels and massage parlours, escort agencies, single private operators, street prostitution and child prostitution. However, an exact account of the number of persons acting as prostitutes is exceedingly difficult to provide, "due to a number of factors including the ubiquitous and changing nature of prostitution and the
movement by prostitutes in and out of the profession and between different settings" (25). Nevertheless, indirect measures of prostitution can be gained from the advertisements of brothels, escort agencies and private workers and from interviews with individuals who are involved in the sex industry.
Under the West Australian police policy of containment and conditional tolerance the police aim "to contain the number of operators of such premises [brothels] to an acceptable and manageable level, whilst achieving a maximum level in standards of conduct and health with minimum public inconvenience or nuisance" (24). Prostitutes are required to contact the vice squad if they wish to work. Women wishing to work in either a brothel or an escort agency are required to register themselves with the vice squad and provide a set of personal details. Single operators are not required to "officially register" (25), although it is apparent that the police do maintain a record of their activities.
The Commissioner of Police does not publicly provide statistics on the number of prostitutes working in Western Australia. According to the Commissioner, approximately one hundred and twenty single operator prostitutes were registered with the vice squad as of June 30, 1986 (15). This figure represented an increase of one hundred per cent over the previous year. The dramatic increase may perhaps be attributed to the heavier demands expected to be placed on the local prostitution industry through the large influx of Cup visitors. Although media reports that 500 eastern states' prostitutes had arrived in Western Australia for the Cup period were probably exaggerated, there seems little doubt that there was a significant increase in the level of prostitution (33, 40).
34
The number of prostitutes in Perth and Fremantle for the duration of the Cup was impossible to determine with a high degree of accuracy. Prostitutes are highly mobile and often work within the industry on a temporary or intermittent basis. The investigation of the America's Cup period was also complicated by the appearance of "enthusiastic amateurs" or "groupies" caught up in the excitement of the event and the possibility of gaining short-term income by working in the sex industry. The most substantial methodological problem was that efforts to obtain data from "official sources", such as the police and health authorities, proved completely unfruitful. Indeed, while figures are kept it is highly likely that release of them would have the potential to be politically embarrassing to the government. Similarly, managers of escort agencies and massage parlours were
generally unwilling to discuss their operations officially, particularly after having been the object of some media publicity (27, 31). Interviews were conducted with high-ranking officials of the police and health services, State Parliamentarians, medical workers, hotel employees, taxi-drivers and members of the hospitality and entertainment industry. However, it should be noted that because of the sensitive nature of the subject, no one who was interviewed wish to be quoted in an official context and while useful information was obtained it could not be sourced because of the danger of breaking interviewee anonymity.
Interviewee's statements ranged from the remark that "prostitution does not exist in Perth" to, "I had never seen streetwalkers in Fremantle, before or since the Cup". Given suchinformationthatwewereabletoobtain and through cross-checking of sources, we are confident that the latter comment was more representative of the actual situation.
Taxi-drivers reported increased business to and from escort, massage and brothel destinations, along with a rise in prices charged for services. According to our sources, demand was so great during peak periods that there were line-ups in the brothels of Fremantle. There were also complaints that "enthusiastic amateurs" were depriving "working girls" of business and that the Perth brothels did not attract the same level of trade as those in the Fremantle area.
The West Australian Police Department (58) did expect "an influx of criminals and prostitutes to prey on [tourists]", and a newspaper article subsequently reported on the arrival of prostitutes from Asia and the eastern states of Australia for the Cup (28). Mr. Kim Flatman, a director of Rochdale Nominees which owned the Fremantle Fitness Studio, claimed that 500 prostitutes had arrived from the eastern states of Australia. This figure was later forcefully denied by Mr. Flatman's wife, "one of the city's leading brothel keepers", on the grounds that her husband was merely the accountant and knew nothing of the day-to day running of the business. Furthermore, the enforcement of the income tax laws in Western Australia that required prostitutes to pay tax made it, "virtually impossible to attract women from the eastern states" (90). Indeed, the precise number of arrivals did appear to have been inflated. However, a police inquiry into the matter which may have clarified the situation was not made available to the public.
In order to assist in ascertaining the level of prostitution that existed during the Cup period, a study of private agents and their locations was conducted with respect to local newspaper advertisements of January 1986, 1987 and 1988 (Table 1). It is evident from this table that there was a new flow of
35
private agents into Fremantle and its nearby suburbs during the America's Cup, for example Bateman and Palmyra, which was not maintained in the following year. Most Fremantle agents specifically advertised their location. Private agents also chose areas such as Jandakot (site of Perth's small aircraft airport) and the wealthier riverside suburbs, most notably Nedlands where the Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC) is located. As the defending organisation of the Cup, the RPYC held several members' social functions throughout the event in Nedlands and Fremantle, perhaps creating an additional demand for dinner/social escorts. At least one upmarket Containment brothel offered "Dinner Companions" during the America's Cup (73), a service normally rarely advertised at all. A total of 82 private agents were found in the advertisements in January 1987, a 50% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, the Vice Squad reported that it was aware of 180 private agents operating that year, also a 50% increase from their previous year's figures(16).
There was no increase in the number of Containment premises during 1987 and, somewhat surprisingly, no evidence of increases in the number of massage parlours or escort agencies; a total of nine non containment agencies advertised each year in 1986 and 1987. On the question of increases in business during the America's Cup, Mrs Dorrie Flatman, owner of a containment brothel in Fremantie, commented that business did not increase substantially during the event, and that the Perth brothels lost business due to the constant enticement of Fremantle's night life. She also confirmed that she had not heard of any new escort agencies or massage parlours during the Cup, apart from a few private agents that she was aware of at the time. Mrs. Flatman concluded that business
growth during the Cup, as far as the brothels were concerned, was unremarkable.
In 1988 however, advertisements beckoning clients to a number of Containment brothels told a different story. The brothels now boasted extensive renovations to their premises--"New Luxury Surroundings," "New Executive Premises," and "The Dungeon--Now Available"--in the �Sunday Times (74). From the enquiries of the authors, it appeared that the timing of this apparently costly upgrading at several premises indicated rather a more productive previous year for the brothels of Perth and Fremantie.
Meanwhile, private agents appeared to have migrated away from the "hot spots" of sporting activity by January 1988, most notably ag�n in Fremantle and its surrounding suburbs, as well as Nedlands. The total number of private agents advertising at that time had also been reduced to 60. In 1990, the Vice Squad reported a decrease of 50% from their 1987 figures, estimating that 120 private agents were operating in the Perth metropolitan area. It was also revealed that only 13 tolerated brothels remained under the Containment Policy, employing 190 women (19).
Overall, the demand for sexual services seems to have increased and diversified during the America's Cup, and related to this would also be the up-market social component associate4 with the event. The number of private agents increased 50% in 1987, and those suburbs most affected were Fremantle, Nedlands and nearby upmarket suburbs. The Cup also created a demand for more sociaVdinner escort services, with at least one Containment brothel strongly courting this market. Another three brothels were upgraded in the year following the
36
Cup. This evidence strongly suggests that business significantly increased for the sex industry as a result of the America's Cup, but resumed pre-Cup levels of activity thereafter.
CRIME
The hosting of the America's Cup appeared to have a substantial impact on the West Australian crime rates. A number of crimes experienced a higher than average increase during 1987, and then decreased before resuming their usual patterns of annual increase (Table 2). This pattern is most clearly evident in the case of stealing with violence. Other crimes similarly influenced during 1987 included indecent assault, break and enter, damage, stealing and total offences. While these crimes decreased in the year following the America's Cup, other offences continued on a steady upward trend following their higher than average increases of 1987. These offences included common assault, serious assault and sexual assault.
Certainly, other crimes did not increase at a higher rate than average in 1987, and did not fit into any convincing pattern to mark the Cup year. However, there is reason to believe from interviews and media sources that the statistics in some categories were significantly underestimated. Had street drinking not been vastly under reported during the America's Cup, for example (16, 51), this offence probably would have presented a similar pattern to those found in terms of assaults.
Evidence of the impacts of the hosting of the America's Cup on criminal and illegal activity in the Fremantle area is substantial. According to the West Australian Police Force's America's Cup Division (1):
