The Golden Girls is a 1950s stage play by Dymphna Cusack set in Sydney of the 1890s.[1]
It was first turned into a radio play in 1954. The Age called it "well written".[2]
The radio version was produced again later in 1954 and in 1955 and 1958.
The stage version premiered in England in 1955 at the Kidderminster Playhouse in Birmingham. The Birmingham Post called it "pure melodrama."[3]
"Angelica, Rosalind, Lavinia, and Charlotte Prendergast are known as the Golden Girls because of their beautiful hair—pure golden blond for Angelica, titian-copper for Rosalind, and ash-blond for the twins, Lavinia and Charlotte. An equally cogent reason for the nickname is the extreme wealth of their father, Major Prendergast, now in business. The dream of the Major’s life is that his beautiful daughters should marry the sons of English gentry who have migrated' to Australia. But, as with many another ambitious parent, the Major’s ruthless pride rebounds against himself; and then throws its long shadow, for many years, over the lives of the four Golden Girls. "