The screening venue is a wonderful converted power station – The Little Gem. Designed, rigged out and run by old-time local Frank Terry and his wife Betty, The Little Gem is just that. Compact (70 seats) with modified carbon arc (now Xenon-powered projectors), the venue is one of the few remaining old style country picture houses. Unfortunately, due to Betty’s long-term illness, the venue has been closed for 12 months, but when the Big Screen juggernaut rolls into town, The Little Gem doors are once again opened and the Wagin population gets right behind the program.

While in Wongan Hills a week ago, regional cinema pioneer Vic Bashem related a story to me about a drive-in he ran in the town in the 50s and 60s where had an old WW2 ocean mine (one of those large globes with the spikes) that he cut in half and made into a fire, around which the cockies would stand once a week and discuss their business before and after the films. To me, this was a great image, the notion of the campfire around which the stories would germinate, grow and be told.

The arrival of the program kindles the flames again in Wagin, reinvigorating Frank and Betty at The Little Gem, but also elements of the town. Audiences at each screening are buzzing before and after, and often find it difficult to contain themselves during the films – which provides for a good level of amusement; they are more badly behaved than the full houses of school kids for Storm Boy! There is a very real sense of the town’s appreciation of ‘the campfire’ and their desire to keep throwing a log or two on.

Wagin strongly embraces the film festival sensibility of the concept, with many repeat patrons seen over the weekend and excellent houses throughout. Of special note though has to be the screening of South: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Glorious Epic of the Antarctic. It’s a fantastic film to start with but with the added bonus of a musical accompaniment by local maestro Alicia Hough, well, the town is a-buzz. It’s a great show and brought a tear to the eye. Sensational and a real hit.

On the road and with Everybody’s Talkin’ blaring out of the car stereo in that Midnight Cowboy kind of way, you do spend a good amount of time gazing at the landscape and thinking about the relationship between the people and their environment. Different to the salt-poisoned areas further to the north, the countryside around Wagin is filled with rolling hills, ample forested areas and thick and green crops growing from what looks (from my amateur geological training) to be fertile soil. The town is very well preserved in its original architecture which provides the citizens of Wagin a direct tie to their history which goes a long way towards providing a very real sense of identity.

Of all the locations I’ve been to, the environment is definitely there in the Wagin people. It’s difficult to put my finger on but it’s there and very refreshing.

Good town, Wagin.

Richard Sowada