Kimberley Fine Diamonds

Kimberley Fine Diamonds proprietor Frauke Bolten-Boshammer lives by a motto that more than aptly encapsulates the inspiring story behind her enormously successful foray into the diamond industry - "Never begin to give up and never give up beginning".

When a tragic accident took the life of her husband just three years after immigrating to Australia from Germany, the then 37 year-old Frauke was alone in the most desolate place on earth. She had a choice - to take her four young children home to her family or forge a new life chasing what seemed an impossible dream - to open a boutique diamond business in the heart of the outback.

In 1984 the small town of Kununurra in the east Kimberley was totally undeveloped. It was dry, maddeningly hot and still very much a man's wilderness. What on earth would it want with a European style diamond house?

And as a mother and wife for the past 22 years with no background in the jewellery trade, how would she successfully make her mark in such dangerously unchartered territory? The tourism potential of the area was yet to be realised but in true pioneering spirit Frauke was convinced a business opportunity with limitless bounds was waiting to be capitalised upon so set about making her vision of promoting Argyle Diamonds (from the nearby Argyle Diamond Mine) a reality.

It was an idea most in the town were highly skeptical of and in honest outback fashion, didn't mind sharing their doubts. "This was very much a man's town and certainly no space for aesthetics, feelings, women's movements or European style boutiques," Frauke said. "Women were housewives and if involved in the business then they were doing the bookwork for a business operated by a man." The skepticism came as no surprise to Frauke who remembers her own shock on arrival at Kununurra where she and her husband had bought their 'dream farm'.

"At the airport in Perth, airline staff asked us with a strange tone in their voice, 'Do you know what that place is like?' when we showed them our one way ticket to Kununurra," Frauke said. "The shock came upon arrival - the dream farm we had bought was abandoned and primitive. The sun was burning over 40 degrees. The worst thing was the lonely town of Kununurra - at the very end of the world. "The most remote area in Australia, maybe even in the whole world and this was going to be my new home."

Like most businesses, early beginnings were on a small scale - a jewellery exhibition at her home on Riverfarm Road with now leading jewellery designer Doris Brinkhaus, and a small showcase at a nearby giftware shop in 1989. But they were surprisingly well received and Frauke realised the huge potential awaiting her.

Continue to the First boutique retail store.