There is pain enough when something traumatic happens, but piled on top is the inevitable clean-up afterwards.
For many of us, the thought of walking into a home in squalor or in which a (sometimes violent) death had happened, would turn our stomach. Thankfully, there are angels among us, akin to emergency room nurses and motor vehicle accident first responders, who don the gloves and get to work.
Australian documentary The Cleaning Company – first released in theatres under the title Clean – takes us along on trauma cleaning jobs.
Filmed over three years, we see this very specific world through the eyes of charismatic septuagenarian, Sandra Pankhurst, CEO of Melbourne’s Specialised Trauma Cleaning Services, one of the nation’s most successful such companies.
Rod bagging up at a hoarding clean. (Photo by Louis Dai.) Source: After Trauma Film Pty Ltd
Sandra and her crew, including Brian, Rod, Kellie and Chris, who share a little of their stories, are passionate about their job, and have all experienced varying degrees of hardship in their own lives. As Brian told director Lachlan McLeod, “Our job is to make a place look like nothing ever happened, to help people move on.”
The types of jobs STC take on include hoarder sites, meth-labs, murder scenes, deaths and suicides. Seeing a day in the life of this extraordinary workplace immediately ramps up the respect for these people who show such care and compassion, not only for their clients at what may be their lowest point, but also their colleagues.
The undisputed diamond in the rough of this story is Pankhurst. Born a boy, Pankhurst was adopted into an abusive family and relegated as a small child to living in basically the backyard shed where access to the house, including the bathroom, was denied each night. Pankhurst talks of people marvelling at how she survived this severely neglected, malnourished childhood. “We’re all fractured souls… everyone alive has an issue.”
Her “rollercoaster ride” of a life had included being a husband and father, gender reassignment patient, sex worker and drag queen when Pankhurst suffered yet another trauma that was her turning point. From there, she made a conscious decision to hit the straight and narrow, and start taking the reins of her own life.
“It’s your choice how you want your life to turn out. Look through the smoke and mirrors and decide what it is that you want in life. You might get there, you might not get there, whatever … You give it a go.”
Sandra Pankhurst appearing live to talk about her biography, ‘The Trauma Cleaner’. Source: After Trauma Film Pty Ltd
In 1991, with her trusty van, she started her business and never looked back, forging great success. More importantly, it gave her long-awaited solace.
During filming, Pankhurst’s longstanding lung condition lands her in hospital, and doctor’s orders are, no more cleaning. In the time and space now available, and with her signature steely resilience, Pankhurst courageously opens a wound, and seeks information about her birth mother.
While she can’t go on-site anymore, she has well-placed faith in her team, who carry on with camaraderie and good humour, bringing hope and a touch of cheer to their clients, many of whom are our community’s most vulnerable people – the neglected, the lonely, the addicted, the mentally unwell. The connection they offer visibly lifts their clients’ spirits, reminding us just how crucial to our wellbeing genuine contact with one another is. “As humans, we need humans.”
With insights like this, it’s no wonder that, once out of hospital and determined to feel stronger, Pankhurst accepts invitations as a motivational speaker. With a biography published about her life in 2017, , and appearances on television, radio and podcast programs, Pankhurst finds people very interested to hear what she has to say. “The reason I talk about my life is to promote care, compassion and dignity, respect and kindness, positivity and the importance of looking at the bigger picture in life.”
When he met Pankhurst and her crew, McLeod knew he would approach this film from a place of empathy. “Sandra and the workers don’t judge their clients because, as Sandra was always quick to remind me, ‘it could be you, could be me, could be anyone tomorrow… life can be fragile’.”
Looking through photographs. (Photo by Max Walter.) Source: After Trauma Film Pty Ltd
The STC crew arrive at a job. (Photo by Louis Dai.) Source: After Trauma Film Pty Ltd
Brian mops up: “Our job is to make a place look like nothing ever happened, to help people move on.” (Photo by Louis Dai.) Source: After Trauma Film Pty Ltd
In a place you’d least expect to find it, Pankhurst and her team are dedicated to preserving human dignity, and manage to reclaim integrity in often unthinkable situations. How? Through that absence of judgement, through acceptance and through focusing on movement forward.
has honoured people in our community often overlooked or unseen altogether. He has also honoured Sandra, who passed away last year, and her workers. They do work so few of us could do. They show up, do the job, are kind in the process and reserve judgement. How many of us can say we do that, in any context?
Director Lachlan McLeod (left) with Director of Photography, Louis Dai. (Photo by Narelle Portanier.) Source: After Trauma Film Pty Ltd
Under the title Clean McLeod’s film was nominated for an AACTA Award, and screened at this year’s MIFF and SXSW Film Festival, where it was also nominated for the Grand Jury Award. Now we get to view it as part of season 2 of Australia Uncovered, a suite of documentaries telling the fascinating stories of everyday Australians.
The Cleaning Company is now streaming at SBS On Demand. It’s one of four documentaries screening as part of season 2 of Australia Uncovered. See the full list of docos .
