The first ever visit of a Fijian touring side to Australia took place in the summer of 1952. This tour originally comprised 9 matches including appearances on Sydney Cricket Ground for a match against New South Wales and a historic first test against Australia on July 26th 1952.
Although Fiji had played 28 tests since 1924 and won 16 of them, their previous opponents - Samoa, Tonga and the NZ Maoris - were not full members of the International Rugby Football Board. This was the first time that the Fiji national side played one of the leading rugby nations.
The Fiji team won their opening two tour matches against South Harbour and City of Sydney before drawing 14-14 on July 12th with a powerful New South Wales side containing 14 current or future Wallabies in front of a record crowd of 38,699 spectators.
Following three further victories including a convincing 24-17 victory in Brisbane over a strong Queensland side with 11 current or future Wallabies, the Fijians amply demonstrated in the lead-up to the test their powerful running and superb handling, qualities that generations of spectators have enjoyed ever since.
The captain of the 23-man Fiji touring party was the breakaway forward 35-year old Apakuki Tuitava already capped nine times, but the undoubted star of the team was the sensational 21-year old winger Josefa Levula, the 6ft 2in and 14 stone Fiji 220-yard sprint champion. Chosen as one of the year's best five players in the 1952 Rugby Almanack of New Zealand following his two tries in Fiji's test against the NZ Maoris, Jo Levula had already scored 7 tries in his 6 matches on tour prior to the 1st test so he was definitely a player to be feared by the Wallabies.