A picture in time: the Beatles arrive in Adelaide on their 1964 Australian tour

Hundreds of thousands of excited fans greeted the band in the staid South Australian capital at the peak of global Beatlemania

When the Beatles arrived in Australia in 1964 for their first and only tour of the country, huge crowds greeted them everywhere they went. But one of the biggest turnouts was in Adelaide, where an estimated 350,000 people flocked to the city to catch a glimpse of them.

Adelaide wasn’t originally on the tour schedule, but local radio presenter Bob Francis petitioned to have it added, and 12,000 tickets were sold out in just over five hours for four shows, two each on 12 and 13 June.