BEATLEMANIA IN MELBOURNE

Paul McCartney during the Melbourne leg of the tour at the Melbourne Town Hall, showing his boomerang skills to Melbourne Lord Mayor Leo Curtis

Beatles' Tour, Melbourne

Beatles in Melbourne.

Crowds waiting to see the Beatles outside the Melbourne Town Hall, June 1964. The mayhem that greeted The Beatles in June 1964 came only six months after their first number 1 hit here in December 1963. Ted Baillieu recalls: 'The funny thing is I can remember to this day the first time I heard the Beatles on radio. The guy came on and said we’re going to play for the first time a song from a new young band from England called the Beatles. I can remember that introduction.'

The Beatles at the Melbourne Town Hall on Tuesday 16 June 1964 for a civic reception hosted by Lord Mayor Leo Curtis. Photo: John Lamb

The Beatles at a press conference at the Southern Cross Hotel, Melbourne, June 15 1964. Molly Meldrum recalls: 'We had spent all night and morning outside the Southern Cross waiting for them to arrive and I was there waiting, climbing trees in the middle of the road. All we could hear on the radio was ‘They’re on their way’. They were coming from Essendon airport. A car came around and I raced to the car and unfortunately it ran over my foot. I went down and got up and I looked around and just pretended I was part of security.'

The Beatles, Melbourne Town Hall, 1964. If you were there, you have never forgotten the experience, says historian Glenn A. Baker. 'The Beatles did not disappoint anybody when they came. They just came here and they lightened our lives.'

The Beatles, Melbourne Town Hall, 1964. When Lord Mayor Leo Curtis decided to hold a civic reception for the Beatles, he had no idea the city would grind to a halt as fans swamped the CBD. His daughter Vikki recalls: 'He brought them into the city and acknowledged them. From the Town Hall balcony you can see down Swanston Street and you can also see down Collins Street and it was just a sea of people.'