''Nickel Queen'' is a 1971

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

starring

Googie Withers Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers (12 March 191715 July 2011) was an English entertainer. She was a dancer and actress, with a lengthy career spanning some seventy-three years in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress and ...

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 NL of the early indications of a promising nickel dep ...

, a

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has 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 slo ...

boom in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

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

as Meg Blake *

John Laws Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a retired Australian radio announcer who had a broadcasting career that spanned 71 years. His distinctive voice earned him the nickname ''Golden Tonsils''. Career Best known as a talkback ...

as Claude Fitzherbert *

Alfred Sandor Alfred Sandor (November 5, 1918 – September 22, 1983), born Alfred Sandwina, and billed early in his career as Al Sandwina, was a Hungarian-born American and Australian character actor and singer. He was also credited as Al Sander and Al Sando ...

as Ed Benson *

Ed Devereaux Edward Sidney Devereaux (27 August 192517 December 2003), better known professionally as Ed Devereaux, was an Australian actor, director, and scriptwriter who lived in the United Kingdom for many years. He was best known for playing the part of ...

as Harry Phillips *

Peter Gwynne Peter Gwynne (22 September 1929 – 17 November 2011) was a New Zealand-born Australian television actor who was also known for voice-over work. Career Born in New Zealand, Gwynne was a well-recognised character actor, appearing in many of th ...

as Andy Kyle *

Doreen Warburton Evelyn Doreen Warburton (22 March 1930 – 19 July 2017) was an Australian actress, director, and theatre co-founder. Biography Evelyn Doreen Warburton was born in London, England on 22 March 1930. At 18 she began her theatre career with the ...

as Betsy Benson *

Tom Oliver Tom Oliver (born 12 June 1938) is a British naturalised Australian retired actor. Oliver is best known locally and internationally for his long-running role in TV soap opera ''Neighbours'' as Lou Carpenter, a role he played for 25 years bec ...

as Roy Olding *

Joanna McCallum Joanna McCallum (born 27 June 1950) is an English theatre, film and television actress. Early years and personal life McCallum is the daughter of English actress Googie Withers and Australian actor John McCallum, and was born in London. Sh ...

as Jenny Blake * Ross Thompson as Arthur *Eileen Colocott as Beatrice Whittaker *Maurice Ogden as Ernest Whittaker *Sir

David Brand Sir David Brand Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (1 August 1912 – 15 April 1979) was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving premier of Western Australia, in office from 1959 to 1971, and was state leader of the Liberal Pa ...

as himself *Sir

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was an Australian politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 8 April 1974 to 25 January 1982. A member of the Western Australian Liberal Party, Liberal Par ...

as himself *

Arthur Griffith Arthur Joseph Griffith (; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that produced the 1921 Anglo-Irish Trea ...

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 Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature recognition, could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (machine learning), in statistics: individual measurable properties of the phenome ...

. Finance was raised from a Perth syndicate, which included the local Channel Seven and

Fauna Productions Fauna Productions is an Australian TV and film 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 had a vi ...

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

Broad Arrow The broad arrow, of which the pheon is a variant, is a stylised representation of a metal arrowhead, comprising a Tang (tools), tang and two wikt:barb, barbs meeting at a point. It is a symbol used traditionally in heraldry, most notably in En ...

. The film was full of

plug Plug, PLUG, plugs, or plugged may refer to: * Plug, an insertive closure or stopper (plug) ** Core plug, used to fill the casting holes on engines ** Butt plug, a sex toy that is inserted into the rectum ** Earplug for ear protection ** Plug (s ...

s 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 ''Skippy the Bush Kangaroo'' (known commonly as ''Skippy'') is an Australian television series created by Australian actor John McCallum, Lionel (Bob) Austin, and Lee Robinson, produced from 1967 to 1969 (airing from 5 February 1968 to 4 May 1 ...

''. Alfred Sandor came out to Australia to play opposite Googie Withers in ''

Plaza Suite ''Plaza Suite'' is a comedy play by Neil Simon. Plot The play is composed of three acts, each involving different characters but all set in Suite 719 of New York City's Plaza Hotel. The first act, ''Visitor From Mamaroneck'', introduces the a ...

'' 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

* *
''Nickel Queen''
at the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...