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Henry Gullett
Sir Henry Somer Gullett KCMG CB (26 March 1878 – 13 August 1940) was an Australian journalist, military historian and politician. He was a war correspondent during World War I and co-authored the official history of Australia's involvement in the war. He later served in federal parliament from 1925 to 1940 and held senior ministerial office.
Gullett grew up in country Victoria. He left school at the age of 12 but began a career in journalism through family connections. During World War I he was attached to Australian units on the Western Front and the Sinai and Palestine campaign, and also did work for the War Records Section. He contributed a volume to the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Gullett was elected to parliament in 1925 as an "independent Nationalist". He joined S. M. Bruce's government as Minister for Trade and Customs (1928–1929) and then became deputy opposition leader (1929–1931) after the government's defeat. Gullett held a series of senior portfolios in the United Australia Party (UAP) governments of the 1930s, serving as Minister for Trade and Customs (1931–1933), External Affairs (1939–1940), Information (1939–1940), and Scientific and Industrial Research (1940). He was killed in the 1940 Canberra air disaster, along with two cabinet colleagues and the head of the army.
Gullett was born on 26 March 1878 in the Goulburn Valley of Victoria, in either Harston or Toolamba West according to different sources. He was the son of Rose Mary (née Somer) and Charles William Gullett; his father was born in London and his mother in Victoria. He grew up on his father's farm, a half-cleared selection of 320 acres (130 ha), learning "milking, ploughing, harvesting and horsemanship even as he received his schooling". He left school at the age of 12 following his father's death.
Gullett was encouraged to pursue a career in journalism by his uncle Henry Gullett, who wrote for the Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald. He began his career writing on agriculture for the Geelong Advertiser, then in 1900 his uncle invited him to move to Sydney and join the staff of the Herald.
In 1908, Gullett moved to England and became a London correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and The Sun, as well as working as a freelancer. He developed an interest in British immigration to Australia, writing pamphlets and giving lectures for the Australian High Commission. In 1914, he published The Opportunity in Australia, a semi-autobiographical tract designed as "an illustrated, practical handbook on Australian rural life".
After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Gullett received accreditation with the British and French militaries as an official war correspondent. He covered the Western Front, where he was "seeing war at close quarters but was not happy to be a mere observer". He briefly served as an ambulance driver, but declined a commission in the Grenadier Guards to return to Australia and enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Gullett was recruited as a speaker in enlistment campaigns and for the "Yes" vote in the 1916 Australian conscription referendum. He enlisted as a gunner in the 2nd Division's ammunition column, arriving in England in early 1917, but his age and a bout of pleurisy rendered him unfit for frontline service. Instead, his friend Charles Bean asked him to assist with his archival work. In August 1917 he was commissioned as a temporary lieutenant in the Audit Section of AIF headquarters in France. After seven weeks he was sent to the Australian War Records Section in London, and then in November, at Bean's request, attached to the AIF headquarters in Cairo.
For the remainder of the war, Gullett was attached to various Australian units in the Sinai and Palestine campaign, including the Desert Mounted Corps, No. 1 Squadron AFC, the Imperial Camel Corps, and the Australian Light Horse brigades. He was appointed officer-in-charge of the local branch of the War Records Section in May 1918, then from August was an assistant official correspondent with the AIF. His "status as historian in uniform enabled him to move freely among all ranks", and he developed friendships with Banjo Patterson, Ross Smith and Richard Williams. He was made a Commander of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1918 for his war-time service.
Gullett was present at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference as a press liaison officer to Prime Minister Billy Hughes. In the same year he co-edited Australia in Palestine, a history of Australia's involvement in the Palestine campaign, and published a pamphlet titled Unguarded Australia in favour of the "populate or perish" attitude towards immigration. In 1923, Gullett's contribution to the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 was published, a volume of nearly 800 pages covering the AIF in Sinai and Palestine. According to Hazlehurst (2013) it was "comparable in scope, if not quite in authority, with the works of Bean on the more popular themes of the Western Front and Gallipoli". Bean himself regarded it as "the most readable and most read" of the official history's twelve volumes.
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Henry Gullett
Sir Henry Somer Gullett KCMG CB (26 March 1878 – 13 August 1940) was an Australian journalist, military historian and politician. He was a war correspondent during World War I and co-authored the official history of Australia's involvement in the war. He later served in federal parliament from 1925 to 1940 and held senior ministerial office.
Gullett grew up in country Victoria. He left school at the age of 12 but began a career in journalism through family connections. During World War I he was attached to Australian units on the Western Front and the Sinai and Palestine campaign, and also did work for the War Records Section. He contributed a volume to the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Gullett was elected to parliament in 1925 as an "independent Nationalist". He joined S. M. Bruce's government as Minister for Trade and Customs (1928–1929) and then became deputy opposition leader (1929–1931) after the government's defeat. Gullett held a series of senior portfolios in the United Australia Party (UAP) governments of the 1930s, serving as Minister for Trade and Customs (1931–1933), External Affairs (1939–1940), Information (1939–1940), and Scientific and Industrial Research (1940). He was killed in the 1940 Canberra air disaster, along with two cabinet colleagues and the head of the army.
Gullett was born on 26 March 1878 in the Goulburn Valley of Victoria, in either Harston or Toolamba West according to different sources. He was the son of Rose Mary (née Somer) and Charles William Gullett; his father was born in London and his mother in Victoria. He grew up on his father's farm, a half-cleared selection of 320 acres (130 ha), learning "milking, ploughing, harvesting and horsemanship even as he received his schooling". He left school at the age of 12 following his father's death.
Gullett was encouraged to pursue a career in journalism by his uncle Henry Gullett, who wrote for the Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald. He began his career writing on agriculture for the Geelong Advertiser, then in 1900 his uncle invited him to move to Sydney and join the staff of the Herald.
In 1908, Gullett moved to England and became a London correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and The Sun, as well as working as a freelancer. He developed an interest in British immigration to Australia, writing pamphlets and giving lectures for the Australian High Commission. In 1914, he published The Opportunity in Australia, a semi-autobiographical tract designed as "an illustrated, practical handbook on Australian rural life".
After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Gullett received accreditation with the British and French militaries as an official war correspondent. He covered the Western Front, where he was "seeing war at close quarters but was not happy to be a mere observer". He briefly served as an ambulance driver, but declined a commission in the Grenadier Guards to return to Australia and enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Gullett was recruited as a speaker in enlistment campaigns and for the "Yes" vote in the 1916 Australian conscription referendum. He enlisted as a gunner in the 2nd Division's ammunition column, arriving in England in early 1917, but his age and a bout of pleurisy rendered him unfit for frontline service. Instead, his friend Charles Bean asked him to assist with his archival work. In August 1917 he was commissioned as a temporary lieutenant in the Audit Section of AIF headquarters in France. After seven weeks he was sent to the Australian War Records Section in London, and then in November, at Bean's request, attached to the AIF headquarters in Cairo.
For the remainder of the war, Gullett was attached to various Australian units in the Sinai and Palestine campaign, including the Desert Mounted Corps, No. 1 Squadron AFC, the Imperial Camel Corps, and the Australian Light Horse brigades. He was appointed officer-in-charge of the local branch of the War Records Section in May 1918, then from August was an assistant official correspondent with the AIF. His "status as historian in uniform enabled him to move freely among all ranks", and he developed friendships with Banjo Patterson, Ross Smith and Richard Williams. He was made a Commander of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1918 for his war-time service.
Gullett was present at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference as a press liaison officer to Prime Minister Billy Hughes. In the same year he co-edited Australia in Palestine, a history of Australia's involvement in the Palestine campaign, and published a pamphlet titled Unguarded Australia in favour of the "populate or perish" attitude towards immigration. In 1923, Gullett's contribution to the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 was published, a volume of nearly 800 pages covering the AIF in Sinai and Palestine. According to Hazlehurst (2013) it was "comparable in scope, if not quite in authority, with the works of Bean on the more popular themes of the Western Front and Gallipoli". Bean himself regarded it as "the most readable and most read" of the official history's twelve volumes.