Created as a spin-off from a popular 1959-1960 children’s TV show from Channel Nine in Australia (The Terrific Adventures of the Terrible Ten) and starring a number of kids from The Magic Boomerang, this colour musical film for kids is set at Christmas time (in the height of an Australian summer).
It revolves around a group of children in a country town (Wallaby Creek) trying to raise money to save their clubhouse (an old woolshed).
They make a batch of Christmas puddings and bottle mineral water from a nearby mineral spring to sell to passing motorists. But the puds are a complete failure, and the mineral water goes flat.
The water and the Christmas puddings are disposed of in a trough – along with a bunch of local native flowers and plants – and their pet goat, Penelope, drinks the mixture.
Shortly afterwards, the children notice that the normal white coat of their goat has become multi-coloured, and they realise they have a major discovery on their hands. They can create rainbow-hued sheep for their wool.
The coloured wool soon becomes sought after by buyers all over the world, but when the coloured wool runs thin, the kids are still in danger of losing their clubhouse.
Sympathetic to their plight, two station hands decide to help the children by winning the remaining money in a sheep shearing contest.
A young Olivia Newton-John makes her film debut, singing Christmas Time Down Under (pictured).
Other musical interludes include an unfortunate love song (She’s the Girl) from Ian Turpie (who was dating Olivia at the time), serenading two doe-eyed teenagers simultaneously, an uplifting Maori song by Kiwi star Howard Morrison, and a version of Click Go the Shears from the Horrie Dargie quintet.
The film – the first colour musical ever made in Australia – cost $32,000 to produce and enjoyed a successful commercial run in New Zealand. It was also sold to Canada for broadcast on colour television there.
Australian cinemas did not embrace the picture, though, and expat Kiwi producer/cameraman Roger Mirams was eventually forced to sell it to Aussie TV stations as a black-and-white version with 20 minutes cut from the film.
Location filming took place at Woodend and Mount Macedon in rural Victoria, which also served as the location for the 1976 Aussie classic Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Teena
Sue Haworth
Lennie
Ian Turpie
Frank Evans
Bruce Barry
Kingie
Howard Morrison
Livvy
Olivia Newton-John
Herr Kuhn
Kurt Beimel
Mr McIsaac
Frank Rich
The Terrible Ten
David Morgan
Rodney Pearlman
Gary Gray
Gavan Ellis
Melissa Orr
Beverly Murch
Joanna Mirams
Robert Brockman
Fiona Orr
Robert McKenzie
Director
Joe McCormick
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