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

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.

The Beatles were the biggest band in the world and their songs were dominating the Australian charts with hits such as Can’t Buy Me Love (No 1 for six weeks in May and June 1964) and All My Loving, also previously a No 1.

It was one of the most intense outpourings of Beatlemania around the world, typified by the fans’ high-pitched screaming – although Ringo Starr was stuck in London with tonsillitis and was briefly replaced on drums by Jimmie Nicol until rejoining the band in Melbourne.

Thousands of people lined the Anzac highway from the airport to the town hall reception and then on to their hotel, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the band as they went past in convertibles.

Conservative Adelaide had never seen anything like it. In front of the town hall people swarmed around the cars, with the police having to lock arms to hold them back.

The Beatles went on to play Festival Hall in Melbourne and Sydney Stadium before flying to New Zealand to finish off the tour.