Back to ‘The Beatles in Australia’
1960
Concert promoter Lee Gordon brings to Australia Crash Craddock, Duane Eddy, Tommy Sands, Chan Romero, Jerry Lee Lewis, Everly Brothers, Bobby Rydell, Pat Boone, Harry Belafonte, Ricky Nelson
Kenn Brodziak’s Aztec Services brings to Australia the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Winifred Atwell, Lonnie Donegan and George Shearing
7 March
Arthur Calwell replaces H. V. Evatt as leader of the Australian Labour Party
April-May
The Mouseketeers tour Australia
27 June
Johnny O’Keefe is injured when he crashes his car near Kempsey, NSW
August
Lee Gordon opens the Big Boy Drive-In restaurant at Taverner’s Hill in Sydney
October
Lee Gordon loses money promoting the 1st Annual Aust International Jazz Festival, a massive tour starring Dizzy Gillespie, Teddy Wilson, Jonah Jones Quartet, Sarah Vaughan, Jimmy Rushing, Dakota Staton, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Gene McDaniels, Coleman Hawkins, Al Hibbler and Ray Price’s Port Jackson Jazz Band
1961
Lee Gordon brings to Australia Sammy Davis Jr, Bobby Rydell, Brenda Lee, Duane Eddy, Chubby Checker, Connie Francis, the Ventures, Johnny Burnette, Bobby Vee, Frank Sinatra
Lee Gordon disappears, has a mental breakdown and is admitted to Mt Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles
Tours of Australia by Jimmie Rodgers, Dion, Freddie Cannon, Roy Orbison, Marty Robbins, Kingston Trio
Australian economy goes into a brief recession, due to a credit squeeze
Introduction of the oral contraceptive pill in Australia
25 February
Last Sydney tram runs, on the La Perouse line
19 August
Four Corners begins on ABC TV
October
Aztec Services presents Cliff Richard & the Shadows
9 December
Menzies government narrowly re-elected
1962
Lee Gordon brings to Australia Chubby Checker, Del Shannon, Lenny Bruce
Lee Gordon tours a Twist show in USA but it flops
Aztec Services tours Helen Shapiro
Completion of coaxial cable linking Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, facilitating the rapid exchange of information and making the beginning of national TV networks technically possible
The ABC installs its first videotape recording facilities in capital city stations
Commonwealth Electoral Act gives all Indigenous Australians the right to enrol and vote at federal elections, removing restrictions applying in Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory
1963
Folk music booms with Australian tours by Peter Paul & Mary and Trini Lopez
1 January
Scientist Dr Gilbert Bogle and Mrs Margaret Chandler are found dead, presumed poisoned
ABC uses coaxial cable for national live coverage of test cricket
TV stations GTV-9 and TCN-9 align to form the National Television Network, with QTQ-9 and NWS-9. The Australian Television Network is formed by HSV-7 and ATN-7, along with BTQ-7 and ADS-7.
Promoter John Harrigan turns the Kings Cross Theatre into a live venue called Surf City
August
The Yolngu people of Yirrkala in Arnhem Land send painted bark petitions to the House of Representatives asserting ownership of their land
6 November
Lee Gordon dies in a London hotel room, under mysterious circumstances
November
Jimmy Little’s recording of ‘Royal Telephone’ released by Festival Records
30 November
Menzies government is returned with an increased majority, in the first live national TV coverage of a federal election
Menzies knighted
1964
Australian tours by Peter, Paul & Mary, Screaming Lord Sutch, Ray Charles, The Searchers, Peter and Gordon, Del Shannon
January
The height of the summer of surf music
January
Harry M. Miller promoter of the Surfside ’64 tour – TheBeach Boys, Roy Orbison, The Surfaris, Paul & Paula, The Joyboys
10 February
The RAN’s destroyer Voyager sinks after a collision with aircraft carrier Melbourne in Jervis Bay, with 82 dead. A Royal Commission will blame Voyager.
April
Harry M. Miller promoter of the Liverpool Sound tour — Gerry & the Pacemakers, Dusty Springfield, Gene Pitney, Brian Poole & the Tremeloes
1 May
NSW becomes the last state to increase the speed limit in built-up areas from 30 miles per hour to 35 (56 kms per hour)
May
Harry M. Miller promoter of the ill-fated Judy Garland tour
17 June
The Beatles Sing for Shell recorded by GTV-9, screened early July
Harry M. Miller tours classical pianist Artur Rubinstein
15 July
Rupert Murdoch starts The Australian newspaper
25 July
Cricketer Bob Simpson scores 311, his first test century, against England at Old Trafford
1 August
Melbourne’s third commercial TV station ATV-0 opens
September
Aztec Services presents the Mersey Beat Show — Billy J Kramer & the Dakotas, Rob E G, The Cicadas, Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs
23 September
Editors of satirical underground magazine Oz, Richard Neville, Richard Walsh and Martin Sharp, are jailed for publishing an ‘obscene publication’
28 September
Australia’s tennis players regain the Davis Cup, defeating the USA
13 October
Dawn Fraser wins her third consecutive Olympic 100 metres freestyle gold medal in Tokyo
20 October
First episode of Homicide screens in Melbourne; the show lasts 12 years
11 November
Mavis Bramston Show first aired (in Sydney and Canberra)
National Service Act is passed into law, meaning that men aged 20 will be conscripted to military training. Conscripts to be chosen by ballot based on date of birth.
ATV-0’s first Australian production The Go!! show launched, hosted by Alan Field
1965
Australian tours by P.J. Proby, The Bachelors, Gene Pitney
January
Aztec Services presents ‘The Big Show’ — Manfred Mann, The Kinks, The Honeycombs, Tony Sheveton, Tony Worsley & the Blue Jays
January-Feb
Harry M. Miller tours TheRolling Stones, Roy Orbison, The Newbeats
12 January
The bodies of two schoolgirls are found at Sydney’s Wanda Beach; the murders remain unsolved
18 January
Registration forms for National Service are available at all post offices. All males turning 20 between 1 January and 30 June must register within three weeks.
February
Freedom Ride, led by Charles Perkins, draws attention to racial discrimination in country NSW
1 March
Dawn Fraser and three other female swimmers are given long bans by the Australian Swimming Union after reports of misbehaviour at the Tokyo Olympics
6 March
Large bushfires in Victoria and NSW
March
Aztec Services presents Cilla Black, Sounds Incorporated, Freddie & the Dreamers
5 April
New Sydney TV channel TEN-10 opens
29 April
Menzies announces Australia will send troops to Vietnam
13 May
Bob Askin becomes first Liberal Premier of NSW
May
Australian government amends the Defence Act, meaning National Servicemen could be forced to serve overseas.
May-June
Aztec Services presents ‘The Big Show’ — Dave Clark Five, The Seekers, Tommy Quickly, Bobby & Laurie
30 June
Australia’s first major military action in Vietnam during an attack on a communist jungle stronghold near Bien Hoa
Normie Rowe’s double-sided hit ‘Que Sera Sera’/’Shakin All Over’ stays on the charts for 28 weeks and sells more than 100,000 copies
1 July
TVQ-0 commences transmission in Brisbane
7 July
The Don Lane Show and In Melbourne Tonight share a split screen via coaxial cable, in an Australian first
9 July
Australian golfer Peter Thompson wins his fifth British Open championship
30 October
British model Jean Shrimpton shocks the establishment by wearing a short dress to Derby Day at Flemington, with no hat or gloves
26 November
Police stop an Easybeats concert in Brisbane after 16,000 teenagers riot, trying to climb on the stage
27 November
The Seekers reach Number 1 in Britain with ‘The Carnival Is Over’
14 December
Doug Walters scores 165 against England in his first cricket Test
Australia’s third commercial television network is formed by the new stations TEN-10, ATV-0, TVQ-0 and SAS-10
1966
Australian tours by The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Searchers, Tom Jones, Herman’s Hermits, P.J. Proby, Eden Kane
Normie Rowe headlines his own national tour
The ban on the employment of married women in the Commonwealth Public Service is lifted
26 January
Menzies retires; Harold Holt becomes Prime Minister
14 February
Introduction of decimal currency
18 July
Play School begins on ABC TV
18 August
Battle of Long Tan, between Australian forces and the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army units; entertainers Little Pattie and Col Joye are caught on the fringes
18 September
St George wins the last of eleven rugby league grand finals in a row, defeating Balmain 23-4
24 September
St Kilda wins its first and only VFL grand final, defeating Collingwood by one point
20 October
Lyndon Johnson becomes the first serving US President to visit Australia
The Easybeats release ‘Friday on my Mind’
25 November
Down Under Comes Up Live screened on BBC, the first television transmission linking Australia with overseas, using the commercial global satellite network known as Intelsat II
26 November
Holt government re-elected; the Vietnam War is the key election issue
1967
Australian tours by Roy Orbison, The Yardbirds, Walker Brothers, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Eric Burdon & the Animals, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
3 February
Ronald Ryan becomes the last person legally executed in Australia
7 February
Black Tuesday bushfires kill 62 in Tasmania
8 February
Gough Whitlam becomes leader of the Australian Labor Party
10 April
This Day Tonight begins on ABC TV
17 April
The first legal talkback radio program goes to air, hosted by Mike Walsh on 2SM
27 May
Over 90% of Australians vote ‘Yes’ in a referendum to change the constitution to allow Aborigines to be included in the population count and to allow the federal government to legislate for them
29 May
Release of the $5 note
30 May
NSW Attorney General’s and Justice departments ban employees wearing short skirts and coloured stockings
7 June
Australia takes part in a global live satellite telecast highlighting Expo 67 in Montreal
25 June
Our World, a two-hour satellite telecast screened simultaneously in 30 countries, includes segments produced in 18 countries, including Australia
July
Tennis player John Newcombe wins his first Wimbledon singles title
October
The first US servicemen arrive from Vietnam on Rest and Recreation (R&R) leave
17 December
Prime Holt Minister Holt disappears in dangerous surf at Cheviot Beach
1968
Australian tours by The Who, The Small Faces, The Monkees
10 January
John Gorton, newly elected leader of the Liberal Party, becomes Prime Minister
February
Normie Rowe inducted into the army
26 February
Aboriginal boxer Lionel Rose defeats Fighting Harada to become world bantamweight champion
8 August
Copyright Act passed by Australian Parliament
1969
January
Normie Rowe sent to fight in Vietnam
13 April
The last tram runs in Brisbane
5 June
Opening of Australian production of the American stage music Hair
21 July
Australian television broadcasts live coverage of the Apollo II moon landing
25 October
Gorton government narrowly re-elected; David Williamson later sets his play Don’s Party on this night
Crawford Productions and GTV-9 launch Division 4, which becomes the second highest rating Australian program after Homicide
1970
8 May
First Moratorium demonstration against the Vietnam War attended by 100,000 people in Melbourne
1 June
Last concert before demolition of Sydney Stadium – The Four Tops, The Flying Circus
December
Pope Paul VI visits Australia
ABC begins telecasts of an entire Ashes series for the first time. England wins two nil.
