More on the Melbourne reception. Here’s the Beatles Bible…
At the hotel, meanwhile, there were so many people hoping to catch a glimpse of them that army and navy troops were called in.
The Beatles were given a police escort of 12 motorcyclists during their route into Melbourne at 4pm. They were driven into a garage entrance at the Southern Cross and a police car pulled up at the front as a diversion. A scene of mayhem ensued, with 300 police officers and 100 military personnel attempting to keep the crowd at bay.
Here’s a contemporaneous report in Melbourne’s The Age…
About fifty young people were taken to hospital yesterday after a near-chaotic welcome to the Beatles by 20,000 outside the Southern Cross Hotel.
Another 200 teenagers were treated on the spot, many of them in Red Cross stations set up in the hotel and in the Australian-American Club opposite.
…
Girls fainted but were carried along upright in the crush.
Police on horseback and on foot were sometimes powerless to halt the human tide.
Numerous fights broke out but lasted only seconds.
One slightly built girl began hitting a man over the head with her stiletto shoe when he blocked her view.
Some fans climbed on top of cars; others scaled trees in the centre of the street. One fell 10 feet into the crowd when the branch of a tree snapped.
The Beatles, who had come from Melbourne Airport in a closed car, entered the hotel by a staff entrance in Little Collins Street.
UPDATE: A collection of yet more Beatles in Melbourne footage here.
