The low-lying excited-state systematics of 185,187,189Au are presented. These are based mainly on the authors' radioactive decay studies of 185,187,189Hg, some details of which are reported. All of the band structures seen in 189Au and the heavier Au isotopes are found to have counterparts in 185,187Au. This is consistent with the systematics of high-spin states in the odd-mass Au isotopes seen using in-beam reaction spectroscopy. It is at variance for 185Au, however, with the only previously published radioactive decay study of the low-medium-spin states in that nucleus. Also, recent optical hyperfine spectroscopy data have shown that 185Au, in contrast to the heavier Au isotopes, has a large ground-state deformation. The earlier results which showed a decisive break in the systematics at 185Au might be taken to be consistent with this onset of ground-state deformation, but the authors' data clearly show that the systematic patterns seen for bands in 189Au and the heavier odd-mass Au isotopes persist even into 185Au.