Juanita Nielsen

Her father, Neil, was an English-born heir to the Mark Foy's retail fortune via his parents, John Joseph Smith (1862–1921), who was chairman and managing director of Mark Foy's Ltd, and his wife, Kathleen Sophie Foy (1870–1919).

Kathleen was a sister of the founder Mark Foy and Francis Foy.

Nielsen was educated at various schools including Ravenswood School for Girls, Gordon.

Nielsen was born Juanita Joan Smith in New Lambton, New South Wales, to Neil Donovan Smith and Vilma Grace Smith (née Meares) (1905–1978).

Her parents separated soon after her birth and she was raised by her maternal grandmother at Killara, Sydney.

Frank William Theeman (born Franz Wilhelm Thiemann, 1913-1989), an Austrian Australian developer, formed property development firm "Victoria Point Pty Ltd" and planned to redevelop the heritage Victoria Street, Kings Cross.

Three 45-storey apartment buildings and a 15-storey office block were planned, therefore necessitating the demolition of all existing buildings.

Juanita Joan Nielsen (Smith; 22 April 1937 – disappeared 4 July 1975) was an Australian newspaper owner, publisher, journalist, model, urban conservationist, and heiress.

She worked at Mark Foy's as a glove model from 1953 until she travelled overseas in 1959.

In 1962, she married a Danish merchant seaman Jorgen Fritz Nielsen in Kobe, Japan, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1967.

Nielsen returned to Sydney in 1965 after living abroad and ran a fashion boutique at Mark Foy's for about five years.

Nielsen's father, in the early 1970s, bought her a home at 202 Victoria Street, in the Sydney locality of Kings Cross, and a local newspaper called NOW. She published NOW fortnightly from her home with the assistance of her business partner, David Farrell.

Nielsen modelled fashions and hairstyles for the newspaper.

The Kings Cross community campaigned against the development, and successfully lobbied the Builders Labourers' Federation (BLF) to impose a green ban on the site in 1972.

Supported by the BLF, the residents of Victoria Street refused to leave their houses.

Nielsen used her newspaper to publicise the issue.

As a member of the Victoria Street Ratepayers Association, Nielsen also lodged an objection to the development proposal with the local council.

BLF leader and prominent Communist Party figure Jack Mundey described Nielsen as an "upper class" person who was initially disapproving of unionism, communism, and squatting, but became more sympathetic.

In July 1973, Kings Cross resident Arthur King was kidnapped by two unidentified men, who put him in the boot of their car.

King was driven to a motel outside the city and held for three days before being released near the Venus Room in Kings Cross.

King quit as the head of the residents' action group and immediately moved out of the area.

In 1973, when merchant seaman, jazz musician, and Communist activist Jack Rabald Fowler, commonly known as "Mick" returned from a period working at sea, he found that his rented house boarded up.

Residents who had squatted in the houses were evicted by police on 3 January 1974.

In 1974, Nielsen stepped up her opposition to the development in her newspaper.

The BLF's green ban was broken in late 1974 when the federal leadership of the BLF, bribed by developers, dismissed the leaders of the New South Wales branch.

However, the green ban was continued by the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemen's Association.

She disappeared after attending a meeting at the Carousel nightclub (also called Les Girls) in Kings Cross on 4 July 1975.

Her body has never been found.

Nielsen opposed urban development on Victoria Street, Kings Cross, Sydney, initiated by property developer Frank Theeman of Victoria Point Pty Ltd. It is generally believed that she was killed because of her conservationism, and there have been strong suspicions of involvement of organised crime and police corruption.

Repossessing his home, Fowler fought and, in 1976, lost a court battle to stay there.

Distrustful of police because of recent harassment, he did not tell the truth about his disappearance until 1977.

There is evidence that Kings Cross nightclub manager James McCartney "Jim" Anderson was involved with the kidnapping.

Other residents on Victoria Street were regularly harassed by men employed by Theeman as he attempted to have them evicted from their houses.

The men were led by Fred Krahe, a former detective sergeant with the New South Wales Police.

Krahe was reputed to be involved in organised crime and he was suspected of murdering prostitute Shirley Brifman after she had accused him of corruption.

Kings Cross residents would move into each other's houses so that no house was left unattended.

The strain of the struggle reputedly led to his early death, aged 51, in August 1979.

In the early 1980s, two men associated with Kings Cross crime boss Abe Saffron were jailed for conspiracy to kidnap Nielsen based on incidents leading up to her disappearance.

A coronial inquest in November 1983 determined that Nielsen had been murdered but did not identify the place, cause, or perpetrators.

The unsolved mystery has continued to be a concern for the Australian community and has inspired several films.