Originally published in Crosslight, October 2016.
Director Stephan Elliott’s cult Australian film, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was partially filmed in the regional New South Wales mining town Broken Hill in 1993.
Released in 1994, Priscilla tells the story of two drag queens (female impersonators) and a transgender person travelling through outback Australia to an Alice Springs gig in a converted bus christened ‘Priscilla’.
The scenes taking place in Broken Hill pub Mario’s Palace depict the ‘locals’ and their initially shocked, prejudiced reactions to the three fabulous strangers in their midst, who they regard with almost otherworldly horror and awe.
Interior, Mario’s Palace Hotel, Broken Hill:
Bernadette: [to the Bartender] Could I please have a Stoli…
Shirley: No! Ya can’t have! Ya can’t have nothing! We’ve got nothing here for people like you! Nothin’!
The scene ends with Bernadette (Terence Stamp), delivering a withering, unprintable put down to the belligerent Shirley, thus winning over the rough and tumble local drinkers, quickly segueing into an impromptu burlesque performance on the hotel’s world famous staircase.
In 1996 I was 18 years old. I voted in my first federal election, and Liberal John Howard was swept to power, defeating sitting Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating with a 5 per cent swing to the Coalition. The concept of marriage equality had yet to enter the public consciousness in any profound way…
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