PM Transcripts

FOCP PRESS!' PM. No. 23/ 1968
AUSTRALIAN BALLET TOUR OF ASIA
Statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. John Gorton
Under the sponsorship of the Australian Government, the
Australian Ballet will leave Australia tomorrow ( 19th) on a tour of
Asian countries. It will give performances In Singapore, Malaysia,
Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Cambodia
and Indonesia. The company will include some 64 dancers, and will
be accompanied by Sir Robert Helpmann, CBE, and Miss Peggy van
Fraagh, OBE. This tour will be the third which the company has
undertaken. It has already played to enthusiastic audiences and been
warmly praised by critics in Britain, several European countries, the
Lebanon, Canada and eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Its members won friends in many countries by their enthusiasm and
grace, both on and off stage.
CANBERRA, 18 February 1968 The Prime Minister has sent the following telegram of
good wishes to the Ballet Company's artistic directors, Sir Robert
Helpmann and Miss Peggy van Fraagh
" FROM ALL THAT I HAVE HEARD ABOUT THE
AUSTRALIAN BALLET'S PERFORMANCES AND
RECEPTION IN OTHER COUNTRIES TO DATE I HAVE
NO DOUBT THAT ON ITS FORTHCOMING ASIAN TOUR
IT WILL FULFIL THE EXPECTATIONS WHICH ITS
IMPENDING VISIT HAS AROUSED IN ASIA AND THAT
IT WILL IMPRESS NEW AUDIENCES BY ITS ARTISTRY
AND VIGOUR. I KNOW THAT THE TOUR WILL BE
ARDUOUS. I BELIEVE IT WILL BE REWARDING.
I WISH THE BALLET EVERY SUCCESS."