On 12 March 1967, Australian folk-pop icons The Seekers performed a historic “homecoming” concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne.
The event is legendary for the massive crowd it drew: an estimated 200,000 people attended, which represented approximately one-tenth of Melbourne’s entire population at the time. The performance set a world record for the greatest attendance at a concert in the Southern Hemisphere.
Fans began gathering at 6am and, by 10am, tens of thousands had already filled the venue for the afternoon concert. At the time, the Bowl was designed to hold around 13,000 to 20,000 people, but the crowd spilled extensively across the surrounding Kings Domain parklands. The sheer volume of people caused major traffic blockages as far back as St Kilda Junction.
Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley were accompanied by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as they performed hits such as Morningtown Ride, A World of Our Own, The Carnival Is Over and an encore of Georgy Girl. Footage was used for the television special The Seekers at Home and Down Under, which became one of the most-watched specials in Australian television history.
Billed as a “homecoming” concert, performed during the annual Moomba Festival, The Seekers had just returned to Melbourne from their hugely successful three-year stint in the United Kingdom. What was originally planned as a 10-week working holiday turned into a much longer stay as they became global stars. By the time they returned, The Seekers had become the first Australian group to achieve major chart success in both the UK and the US.
The Sidney Myer Music Bowl performance was the centrepiece of a larger Australian tour to celebrate their international triumphs with their home audience. Their return was so significant that the group was collectively named 1967 Australians of the Year.
On Bang a Gong:
Our song page for Georgy Girl features video of The Seekers performing the song at this concert.
A World of Our Own
The Carnival is Over
Georgy Girl
I’ll Never Find Another You
Morningtown Ride
And this 2022 release: Carry Me
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