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Some of the text in The Australian Ballet timeline is adapted from essays in Luminous. These were written by Valerie Lawson (The Sixties), Jill Sykes (The Seventies), Lee Christofis (The Eighties), Michael Shmith (The Nineties) and Deborah Jones (The New Millennium).
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Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann invites Colin Peasley to join the ballet staff.
16 December 1975
Noel Pelly, an original member of the The Australian Ballet’s staff, retires.
30 November 1991
The premiere of Robert Helpmann’s Perisynthion, a companion to his Sun Music.
21 March 1974
Anne Woolliams becomes artistic director and introduces John Cranko’s Onegin to the repertoire.
1 September 1976
Peggy van Praagh becomes a Dame.
14 June 1970
Rudolf Nureyev dies.
6 January 1993
Robert Helpmann rises from his hospital bed to play the role of the frail, beleaguered Red King in Checkmate.
6 May 1986
The Merry Widow, the first full-length work commissioned by The Australian Ballet, has its world premiere in Melbourne.
13 November 1975
British choreographer Gillian Lynne arrives to create The Australian Ballet’s first TV commission.
October 1975
Robert Helpmann assumes sole directorship of the company as Peggy van Praagh relinquishes her position due to ill health.
11 June 1974
The Australian Ballet begins its long association with the Sydney Opera House as Garth Welch says farewell.
7 December 1973
Helpmann invites Frederick Ashton to perform in the Australian premiere of Ashton’s Cinderella.
17 March 1972
Robert Helpmann and Rudolf Nureyev make Nureyev’s production of Don Quixote into a film starring The Australian Ballet.
December 1972 – January 1973
The company embark on a 17-city, 69-performance, 10-week tour of the USA.
December 1970 – March 1971
The Australian premiere of Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote in Adelaide.
