Katherine James's Xanadu Parlour and Police Betrayal

Dorothy Edith Knight, an 80-year-old pensioner, sat on this very bench in New Farm Park, wearing a wire. It was the first time anyone in Queensland had done that. She was here as a young sex worker, part of a police sting meant to catch a corrupt Queensland police detective who was known for extreme violence.

Undercover cops were hiding in vans and disguised as gardeners, watching her every move. This city back then was full of crooked cops, and Dorothy risked her life right here to help take down one of the worst. The stress of it all was so intense that she fainted when the undercover police took him away.

She hadn't been back to this park, with its poinsettias, Moreton Bay figs, and rose beds, for exactly 50 years until that day. The fallout from what happened here changed the rest of her life, she said. Dorothy mentioned she felt "nervy" in the days leading up to returning.

Her voice, and the voices of many other sex workers who tried to fight against police corruption in Queensland, had been lost and their stories forgotten for a long time.

After World War II, Queensland changed, and under Commissioner Frank Bischof, police corruption was widespread in the 1950s and 60s. Bischof, known as the Big Fella, became Commissioner in 1958 and had already become skilled at graft. He gathered a group of young officers, Glendon Patrick Hallahan, Tony Murphy, and Terry Lewis, all in their late 20s and early 30s.

These men were Bischof’s bagmen. They investigated threats to his corrupt system, which they called The Joke. They kept secret files on politicians, manipulated court cases, and silenced critics. They were known as the Rat Pack.

One easy way for Bischof and his men to get money was through weekly bribes from the city's sex workers. This was in exchange for protection from prosecution, as sex work was illegal then. If a sex worker didn't go along with The Joke, they would face consequences. At first, most sex workers complied.

Dorothy Knight worked at the National Hotel, which was a favorite spot for the police. She would sometimes get five clients a night. She'd drink scotch and take half a Purple Heart, a stimulant popular in 60s London, to prepare. She'd charm clients at the bar before going upstairs to the hotel's guest rooms. Dorothy said that "word got around… if you wanted a girl, well, go to the National." She spent a lot of time getting ready, had a special makeup light, wore high heels because she was short, and was very particular about her long hair.

One sex worker, Shirley Brifman, became a favorite of the Rat Pack. She worked in brothels and hotels, including the National Hotel. Shirley gave large sums of money to Detective Tony Murphy for his car and his child's tutoring, and also to Detective Hallahan. This money kept them in expensive clothes and colognes. Shirley later recalled that Hallahan "would have got a terrific amount" and that he stayed at her place, getting an allowance from his department for it.