''Nickel Queen'' is a 1971

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

starring Googie Withers and directed by her husband John McCallum. The story was loosely based on the

Poseidon bubble The Poseidon bubble was a stock market bubble in which the price of Australian mining shares soared in late 1969, then crashed in early 1970. It was triggered by the discovery by Poseidon Nickel of the early indications of a promising nickel d ...

, a

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

boom in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in the late 1960s, and tells of an outback pub owner who stakes a claim and finds herself an overnight millionaire.

Plot

Meg Blake is the widowed owner of a pub in a small desert town in Western Australia. Corrupt American mining executive Ed Benson starts the rumour of a nickel discovery to sell shares to gullible investors. Meg heads the rumour and stakes the first claim. Benson promotes her as the "Nickel Queen". Hippie Claude Fitzherbert follows Meg into Perth high society and becomes her lover. Benson is exposed as a fraud, Fitzherbert deserts Meg and runs off with Benson's wife and Meg is reunited with an old suitor from her hometown.

Cast

* Googie Withers as Meg Blake *

John Laws Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian radio announcer. For 50 years, until 2007, he was the host of an Australian morning radio program combining music with interviews, opinion, live advert ...

as Claude Fitzherbert * Alfred Sandor as Ed Benson * Ed Devereaux as Harry Phillips *Peter Gwynne as Andy Kyle * Doreen Warburton as Betsy Benson * Tom Oliver as Roy Olding *Joanna McCallum as Jenny Blake *Ross Thompson as Arthur *Eileen Colocott as Beatrice Whittaker *Maurice Ogden as Ernest Whittaker *Sir

David Brand Sir David Brand KCMG (1 August 1912 – 15 April 1979) was an Australian politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1945 to 1975, and also the 19th and longest-serving Prem ...

as himself *Sir

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

as himself * Arthur Griffith as himself

Production

The original story was co-written by Henry James, an Australian journalist who had worked in England since the 1930s. It was inspired by the 1969–70 Poseidon nickel boom in Western Australia. British film producer

Sydney Box Frank Sydney Box (29 April 1907 – 25 May 1983) was a British film producer and screenwriter, and brother of British film producer Betty Box. In 1940, he founded the documentary film company Verity Films with Jay Lewis. He produced and co- ...

, who had retired to Perth, sent a copy of the script to John McCallum who had just finished making the TV series ''Barrier Reef'' and was interesting in moving back into features. Finance was raised from a Perth syndicate, which included the local Channel Seven and

Fauna Productions Fauna Productions is an Australian film and TV production company established by Lee Robinson, Lionel ('Bob') Austin and John McCallum who met during the making of the film '' They're a Weird Mob'' (1966). Robinson, Austin and McCallum wanted to ...

in Sydney. Shooting started in November 1970 and took place in Perth and in the mining town of

Broad Arrow A broad arrow, of which a pheon is a variant, is a stylised representation of a metal arrowhead, comprising a tang and two barbs meeting at a point. It is a symbol used traditionally in heraldry, most notably in England, and later by the Britis ...

. The film was full of plugs for companies which helped finance the film and cameos from West Australian politicians, including Premier Sir

and Minister for Industrial Development

. Radio personality

was cast in the lead after impressing John McCallum with his performance in an episode of the TV series '' Skippy the Bush Kangaroo''. Alfred Sandor came out to Australia to play opposite Googie Withers in '' Plaza Suite'' and decided to stay.

Release

The film was highly popular in Perth, running for six months. It did less well in the eastern states.Brian McFarlane, 'Class Act: Googie Withers and John McCallum', ''Meanjin''
Retrieved 21 September 2012

References

External links