Disappearance of Harold Holt

On 17 December 1967, Harold Holt, the 17th prime minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming in the sea near Portsea, Victoria. An enormous search operation was mounted in and around Cheviot Beach, but his body was never recovered. Holt was presumed to have drowned, and his memorial service five days later was attended by many world leaders.

It is generally agreed that Holt's disappearance was a simple case of an accidental drowning, the only other plausible explanation being that he could have been attacked by a shark. However, a number of conspiracy theories surfaced. The most famous suggestion was that he was a spy for China and had been collected by a Chinese submarine. However, this theory was quickly proven false. Holt was the third Australian prime minister to die in office, after Joseph Lyons in 1939 and John Curtin in 1945.

Holt was initially replaced in a caretaker capacity by John McEwen, and then by John Gorton following the 1968 Liberal Party leadership election. Holt's death has entered Australian folklore, and was commemorated by, among other things, the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre.

Harold Holt became the 17th prime minister of Australia in January 1966, following the retirement of Sir Robert Menzies. Holt was a career politician, entering parliament at the age of 27 and becoming a government minister at the age of 31.

As with Menzies, Holt refused a security detail upon taking office, considering it unnecessary and potentially alienating to the general public. His stance changed after two incidents in mid-1966 – a window in his office was shattered by a sniper, and then an assassination attempt was made on Arthur Calwell, the Leader of the Opposition. Holt grudgingly accepted a single bodyguard for his official duties, but refused any protection while on holiday, regarding it as a violation of his privacy. His wife Zara later suggested that this was so he could hide his extramarital affairs.

Holt was a keen outdoorsman and had beach houses at Portsea, Victoria, and Bingil Bay, Queensland. He was introduced to spearfishing in 1954, and it soon became his preferred vacation activity. Holt wore a wetsuit so he could fish year round, and preferred either skin diving or snorkelling as he found air tanks burdensome and inauthentic. Once he had speared a fish, he would unzip his suit and place it inside (still bleeding), allowing him to continue fishing. According to his companions, Holt had "incredible powers of endurance underwater" and sometimes kept himself amused during parliamentary debates by seeing how long he could hold his breath. Although he could tread water for long periods, he was not a strong surface swimmer.

Several of Holt's friends confronted him about the dangers of his hobby, including his press secretary, Tony Eggleton, to whom Holt responded, "Look Tony, what are the odds of a prime minister being drowned or taken by a shark?" On 20 May 1967, Holt had a close call while diving at Cheviot Beach on the Mornington Peninsula, where he became distressed and called for help. Pulled ashore by his diving companions, he remained conscious, but turned purple and vomited a large amount of seawater. Holt attributed the incident to a leaking snorkel and supposedly remarked, "That's the closest I have ever been to drowning in my life!" A few months later, on 5 August, which was also his 59th birthday, he was spearfishing at Dunk Island on the Great Barrier Reef. He spent twenty-five minutes chasing a large coral trout, but eventually had to abandon the pursuit due to extreme shortness of breath.

Holt had been in reasonably good health throughout his life, although he had a family history of premature death – his father had died at the age of 59 and his older brother at the age of 57. Holt himself suffered a severe concussion in a road accident in November 1955, in which the driver of his ministerial car was killed. In September 1967, Holt began treatment for a painful shoulder injury that he had originally suffered playing football in his youth; he was prescribed painkillers and twice-weekly physiotherapy. A few days before his death, he had been briefly examined by his personal physician, Marcus Faunce, who advised him to avoid overexerting himself and to cut back on swimming and tennis.