The Beatles’ 1964 world tour ended on this night, with two shows at the Festival Hall in Brisbane. Each of the concerts was seen by 5,500 fans.
During the day they took two hire cars to the Gold Coast, where they spent time relaxing on a stretch of sand between Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise.
The Beatles returned to Lennons Hotel in Brisbane after their second concert of the night. The following day they began their long return journey back to England.
Festival Hall, Charlotte St. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Four shows over two nights, each before 5500 people, closed the Beatles hectic tour of the Antipodes.
The Beatles flew out of Christchurch for Sydney, Australia, switching planes in Auckland. From Sydney they changed planes again, landing in Brisbane just after midnight.
Majestic Theatre, Manchester St. Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
Around 5,000 fans greeted The Beatles as their aeroplane from Dunedin landed in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The fans were also lined up along the route The Beatles’ limousine took to the Clarendon Hotel in Christchurch city centre, where the group was staying. At one point a 13-year-old girl threw herself in front of the car, bouncing off the bonnet and onto the road. The Beatles took her to their hotel, gave her coffee and made sure she was unhurt.
At the hotel some male fans hid in a closet, intending to cut The Beatles’ hair in an attempt to impress their girlfriends. They were discovered before they could encounter the group, but the men got away down the fire escape.
The Majestic Theatre was an Art Deco cinema dating from 1930, and hosted a number of music performances during the 1960s including The Kinks, The Dave Clark Five and Manfred Mann. In 1970 it became a nightclub and was later converted into a church.
This was The Beatles’ only concert in Christchurch, and their final one in New Zealand.
Town Hall, Moray Place, Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand
Two shows in this 4000 seater town hall. The flight from Auckland to Dunedin had been an anxious one following an anonymous threat that a "germ bomb" had been placed somewhere on board the plane.
Town Hall, Queen St. Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Four shows over two nights, seen by a total of 10,000 people.
The Beatles attended a civic reception held by Auckland’s mayor Dove-Myer Robinson at the Town Hall, prior to their performances there in the evening.
Mayor Robinson held the event in the face of opposition from a number of city council members. More enthusiastic, though, were the 7,000 fans who gathered outside the Town Hall to see the group rub noses with three Maori girls in native dress.
It was one of the quickest and most pleasant receptions we’ve ever been to. We went out onto a balcony and waved to the crowd, and some Maoris danced for us, and away we went.
The Lord Mayor was very nice and said, ‘I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t come, with all the fuss they’ve been making round here about how much it’s costing.’
As on the previous night, The Beatles performed two shows at the Town Hall, each of which was seen by 2,500 fans.
Town Hall, Queen St. Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Four shows over two nights, seen by a total of 10,000 people.
Town Hall, Cuba St. Wellington, North Island, New Zealand
The Beatles performing two shows tonight.
Town Hall, Cuba St. Wellington, North Island, New Zealand
Four shows in Wellington, two per night, at the 2500 seat Town Hall, kicked off the Beatle's seven day visit to New Zealand, to where they had flown from Sydney on the 21st. His cords recovered from tonsillitis, Ringo resumed his one-vocal-per-concert quota with "Boys" at the first of these Wellington shows, returning the Beatle's performing repertoire to 11 songs.
Meanwhile, George Martin, balance engineer Norman Smith and second engineer/tape op Geoff Emerick spent an exhaustive day undertaking mono and stero mixes of Beatles recordings.
The Beatles Complete Chronicle - ML
On this day The Beatles flew from Sydney Airport to Auckland, New Zealand.
As The Beatles prepared to leave Suite 801 of Sydney’s Chevron Hotel, they heard a tap on the windows. It was Peter Roberts, a 20-year-old Liverpudlian living in Australia, who had scaled eight storeys in darkness via the hotel drainpipes.
We were all shoving our dirty rags into a case when I heard a knock on the window. I thought it must have been one of the others mucking around so I didn’t take any notice, but the knocking kept on so I went over to the balcony – and there was this lad who looked just like a typical Liverpool lad. I knew before he opened his mouth where he was from, because nobody else would be climbing up eight floors. This lad – Peter – walked in and said, ‘Hullo dere,’ and I said, ‘Hullo dere,’ and he told me how he’d climbed up the drainpipe, from balcony to balcony. I gave him a drink because he deserved one and then I took him around to see the others, who were quite amazed. They thought I was joking when I told them. John Lennon, 1964 Anthology
At Sydney Airport The Beatles were greeted by an estimated 10,000 fans – their biggest number yet. After flying 1,500 miles to Auckland they were greeted by another 7,000 people, and were given traditional nose-rubbing kisses from Maori women in native dress.
When we were flying in to New Zealand, it looked like England – like Devon, with cows and sheep. But in those days we were looking for some action, and there was absolutely nothing happening.
We were in the hotel room, sitting around eating fish and chips with peas, and watching television. And suddenly, at about nine o’clock at night, the channels all closed down. So we threw our dinners at the TV. George Harrison, 1964 Anthology
The Beatles were driven to Auckland’s Hotel St George where a further 3,000 fans were waiting for them. They had to be smuggled in through a nearby bottle shop to avoid the crush of people.