page_title: Harold Holt
section_title: Disappearance
hierarchical_section_title: Harold Holt / Disappearance
caption_attribution_description: English: Cheviot Beach on Point Nepean near Portsea. Harold Holt went missing at this beach.
context_page_description: Harold Edward Holt, CH, was an Australian politician who served as the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1966 until his presumed drowning death in 1967. He was the leader of the Liberal Party during that time.
  Holt, born in Sydney, lived in Melbourne from 1920. He was the first prime minister born in the twentieth century, after the Federation of Australia. He studied law at the University of Melbourne and had his own legal practice, becoming, at twenty-seven years of age, the member for Fawkner in the House of Representatives at a 1935 by-election. A protégé of Robert Menzies, he was a minister in the 1939 United Australia Party government. He held a series of minor portfolios until the government's defeat in 1941. His tenure was interrupted by a brief stint in the Australian Army, which ended when he was recalled to cabinet following the deaths of three ministers in the 1940 Canberra air disaster. He joined the new Liberal Party upon its creation in 1945.
  When the Liberals came to office in 1949, Holt became a senior figure in the new government.
context_section_description: Holt loved the ocean, particularly spearfishing, and had holiday homes at Portsea, Victoria, and Bingil Bay, Queensland. On 17 December 1967, while Holt was spending the weekend at Portsea, he and four companions decided to drive to Point Nepean to watch sailor Alec Rose pass through The Rip on his solo circumnavigation attempt. On their way back to Portsea, Holt convinced the group to stop at remote Cheviot Beach for a swim before lunch – he had spearfished there on many previous occasions, and claimed to "know this beach like the back of my hand". Because of the rough conditions, only one other person, Alan Stewart, joined Holt in the water. Stewart kept close to shore, but Holt swam out into deeper water and was seemingly caught up in a rip, eventually disappearing from view. One of the witnesses, Marjorie Gillespie, described it as "like a leaf being taken out [...] so quick and final".
  Holt's disappearance sparked "one of the largest search operations in Australian history", but no trace of his body was ever found. A police report released in early 1968 made no definitive findings about Holt's death, while a coronial inquest in 2005 returned a verdict of accidental drowning. It is generally accepted that Holt overestimated his swimming ability. Some have alleged that Holt committed suicide, but those close to him rejected this as uncharacteristic of his personality. Conspiracy theories have included suggestions that Holt faked his own death, was assassinated by the CIA, or was collected by a submarine so that he could defect to China.
  A memorial service for Holt was held at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, on 22 December, and attended by numerous world leaders. Aged 59 at the time of his death, Holt became the third Australian prime minister to die in office, after Joseph Lyons (1939) and John Curtin (1945). John McEwen, the leader of the Country Party, was sworn in as caretaker prime minister on 19 December. The Liberal Party held a leadership election on 9 January 1968, in which John Gorton defeated Paul Hasluck, Billy Snedden, and Les Bury. Gorton was a member of the Senate, and in line with constitutional convention transferred to the House of Representatives at the by-election caused by Holt's death.
caption: Cheviot Beach, the site of Holt's disappearance
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