Beatlemania comes alive in Australia
Australians can soon relive Beatlemania that swept our shores almost 50 years ago.
A new exhibition will open in Sydney next month celebrating The Beatles' only trip here, which they took in June 1964.
John Lennon's suit - on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London - newsreel footage, radio coverage and fan letters will be on display in The Beatles in Australia.
The exhibition will kick off at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and then travel to Arts Centre Melbourne next year.
"While The Beatles career has been documented in great detail, the story of their tour to Australia is less well known," Powerhouse Museum curator Peter Cox says.
"The eruption of Beatles mania here was more intense than anywhere else in the world."
Visitors will be able to test their knowledge in an interactive quiz, hear interviews with tour participants, see fans' scrapbooks and record their own impressions of the visit.
"By the time they arrived, they were the biggest musical act in the world," Cox says.
"Their records sounded fresh, young and different and their music and style had a huge influence on teenagers in Australia."
The Beatles in Australia exhibition will show the following dates:
- September 21, 2013 to February 16, 2014 - Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
- March 8 to July 1, 2014 - Arts Centre Melbourne
