History Bytes: Newport’s Australian Summer

October 3, 2013
Australian crew members celebrate on their way back to Newport Harbor, image from the NHS collections.

Australian crew members celebrate on their way back to Newport Harbor, image from the NHS collections.

In 1983, Newport was all about Australia. In January the song Down Under by Men at Work reached # 1 on the Billboard 100. During the summer, several local ballads played with Waltzing Matilda endlessly on Rhode Island radio stations. It was all a lead up to the America’s Cup Race and the Australian victory on 26 September.

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Courage Draught Beer had been imported from Australia for every race since 1974.