In 1949, the International Olympic Committee gathered in Rome to decide which city would host the 1956 Summer Olympics.

The locations under consideration included six American cities, as well as Montreal, Mexico City, Buenos Aires — and Melbourne.

The Australian city’s nomination was met with some skepticism, particularly because of its location in the Southern Hemisphere — the reversal of seasons meant the games would have to be held during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter, when many athletes would typically be resting.

After four rounds of voting, Melbourne triumphed over Buenos Aires by a vote of 21 to 20, becoming the first Olympic city outside of Europe and North America.

The games opened on Nov. 22, 1956, and went smoothly apart from a few boycotting nations and one awkward snafu: because of Australia’s quarantine rules, all the equestrian events had to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, five and a half months before everything else.

These images, recently unearthed by the Public Record Office Victoria, are from the promotional materials which Australia used to pitch the city to the IOC.