Tourism, Americanization and the Vietnam War R&R Scheme in Sydney, Australia, 1967–71

Australia's addition to the Vietnam War R&R scheme in September 1967 brought some 280,000 short-stay tourists to Sydney, and particularly its notorious ‘red light district’, Kings Cross. We show how Australia's experience of this ‘friendly invasion’ aided considerably in the development of a nascent tourist industry in Sydney, due in no small part to the considerable efforts of government promoters and local entrepreneurs. This influx also created tensions and debates, reflecting concerns expressed across the Southeast Asian cities where American troops took their leave. Sydney proved a popular destination for visiting Americans, owing at least in part to its being another White settler society. Yet, issues of sex, drugs, criminality, and ever-lurking anxieties around Americanization, often threatened to imperil the scheme. While far from Kowloon or Bangkok, some Sydneysiders and their representatives saw a similarly exploitative dimension to the American presence in their city.