VPRS 11199 Records Relating to the Australian World Fair / Exposition Project [Records Not Transferred]

These are the only known records extant related to the proposed Australian World Fair or Australian World Exposition. They include some press releases, a feasibility study, and a selection of official correspondence in presentation format.Neither of these projects came to fruition in the nineteen-seventies or nineteen-eighties.The records in this series appear to be documents prepared for presentation to gain further support for the projects: press releases; sets of official correspondence for government bodies perhaps; and the feasibility study for government bodies and possibly commercial sponsors.The existence of any minutes, financial reports, or any other correspondence is unknown.According to these documents it was proposed that either an Australian World Fair or an Australian World Exposition would be held in Melbourne in the early to mid-nineteen-seventies.A committee had been formed by 1965. A list of the members of the foundation committee can be found inside the front cover of the Australian World Exposition Project Handbook of March 1965.Neither the Australian World Fair Project or the Australian World Exposition Project were a specific City of Melbourne project but appear to have been closely aligned with the Council. In the documents in this series, the idea to hold a World Exposition in Melbourne is attributed to Councillor Sir Maurice Nathan. The idea is said to have occurred to him in May 1962 while he was Lord Mayor of Melbourne.The Lord Mayor, Sir Maurice Nathan, enlisted the support of a number of business leaders. These people made financial contributions to further the cause.From the documents which remain the title of the project seemed to change from Australian World Fair to Australian World Exposition with the stroke of a pen.