The Mysterious Disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt

Mr. Fireside

9 min readJan 18, 2023

The Mysterious Disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt

Prime Minister Harold Holt was the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from January 1966 to December 1967.

On December 17, 1967, Holt went missing while swimming at Cheviot Beach, near Portsea, Victoria.

Despite an extensive search including the Navy, Army, Airforce, Police, and volunteers, his body was never found.

Harold Holt

Harold Holt was born on August 5, 1908, and is presumed to have died on December 17, 1967. He was married to Zara Kate Dickins. Harold was a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and served as the Prime Minister of Australia from January 1966 until his presumed death in December 1967.

Harold Holt was the 17th Prime Minister of Australia and was the first Australian Prime Minister to be born in the 20th century.

Holt was known for his strong support of the US-Australia alliance and increased Australian involvement in the Vietnam War. He also implemented several economic and social reforms during his time in office.

Despite his short tenure, Holt is remembered for his contributions to Australian politics and his leadership during a critical period in Australian history.

The Disappearance

December 17, 1967

Holt woke up on a typical warm Australian Sunday morning, had breakfast while reading papers, and then after running some personal errands with the years duties as PM over, decided to go to the beach as a way to build up an appetite before lunch. Holt was with a group of friends and neighbors, including personal friend and businessman Alister McMullin.

The group decided they would just sit and watch. Holt entered the water with a friend, Mr. Alan Stewart, director of Port Quarantine Station at Portsea when he disappeared. The two men swam out from the shore in heavy surf. They became separated in strong currents. Alan reported that he thought the Ocean current was too strong and so he swam back to shore to watch the Prime Minister.

Shortly after, Mr. Stewart noticed that Holt had gone underwater and had lost sight of him for some time, it was then that he raised the alarm. The time was approximately 12.40 pm.

Holt, who was known to be an experienced swimmer and spear fisherman, failed to return to shore. A short time after the friends raised the alarm by driving to a local Army Cadet station, a search and rescue operation was launched.

The search involved the Australian Navy, the Royal Australian Air Force, the local Army Cadets, and the Victorian Police Force, as well as hundreds of local volunteers, civilian craft, and of course both Police and Navy divers.

RAAF helicopters were brought from Sydney to Melbourne to assist in the search. The search area covered more than 50 square miles of ocean and coastline, but no trace of Holt, his belongings, or any other evidence was found in the sea or washed up on shore.

It was as if once he had entered the water, he just vanished.

A quote below from Alan Stewart, who was in the water for a short time with the Prime Minister regarding the events at the time:

The water did not look very inviting at all but the Prime Minister took off his shirt and strode into the waves…
Even though it was cold I decided to follow him but after a short while I turned around and returned to shore…
When I reached the shore the tide was going out fast and the Prime Minister was swimming strongly with it…
Frankly, I began to feel some concern because of the size of the waves which were breaking over the reef…
I watched for about three minutes and then Mr. Holt suddenly disappeared. When I failed to catch sight of him after a few more minutes I gave the alarm.

Mr. Stewart explained to the press secretary at the time, Mr. Eggleton that at no time did he hear Mr. Holt cry out for help, and at all times up until when he disappeared from sight Mr. Holt had appeared to be in complete control right up until the end when he just went under the water.

Marjorie Gillespie, Holt’s neighbor told reporters she had witnessed the incident and was interviewed on Cheviot Beach the day after.

Instead of just having a plan in getting out, [he] was really enjoying having a swim…I don’t think he realised perhaps… that as he was swimming, he was being taken further out…
[Holt] never seemed to be in distress, call out or raise a hand…
This is when I was saying, ‘Come back, come back’. I was yelling. I knew he couldn’t hear me, at that stage, he was trying to come back. [Then] the water seemed to boil into colossal waves where he was [and] he couldn’t come back.

The official explanation for Holt’s disappearance was that he had drowned while swimming. However, rumors and conspiracy theories have persisted over the years, including speculation that Holt may have faked his own death or that a foreign government had kidnaped him.

Army personnel at the scene of the disappearance Image credit.

Some theories suggest that Holt had planned his own disappearance, due to personal and political reasons such as the pressure of being Prime Minister and the fact that his popularity was declining. However, there is no concrete evidence to support these claims.

Another theory is that Holt was kidnapped by a foreign government, specifically China or the Soviet Union. This theory is based on the fact that Holt had been a strong advocate for the US-Australia alliance and had increased Australian involvement in the Vietnam War. But again this theory is not supported by any concrete evidence and there is no official record or statement which suggests this.

Air force personnel at the scene of the disappearance Image credit.

The official investigation into Holt’s disappearance was led by Victorian Coroner, Mr. J.A. Lamble, who concluded on January 31, 1968, that Holt had drowned and that there was no evidence of foul play. The Coroner also stated that Holt’s body was unlikely to be recovered, due to the strong ocean currents and the shark-infested waters in the area.

The disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Holt remains a mystery.

Despite an extensive search, his body was never found and the official explanation is that he drowned while swimming in rough surf conditions. However, the conspiracy theories and rumors persisted over the years.

Lead Up

The events of that infamous day, as well as the prior days leading up to his disappearance, are as follows:

On December 14, 1967, Holt traveled to Melbourne to attend a meeting of the Federal Executive of the Liberal Party. He also met with the Governor-General, Lord Casey, to discuss the upcoming referendum on constitutional changes.
On December 15, 1967, Holt returned to Canberra and attended a meeting of the National Security Committee. He also met with the US Ambassador, William Battle, to discuss the Vietnam War.
On December 16, 1967, Holt traveled to Portsea, Victoria, to spend the weekend at the beach house of his friend and businessman Alister McMullin. He spent the day relaxing and catching up with friends.
On December 17, 1967, Holt woke up early and had breakfast with McMullin and other friends at the beach house. Around 11:00 AM, Holt decided to go for a swim in the ocean despite the rough surf conditions. He was last seen in the water by his friends.
When Holt failed to return to shore, his friends raised the alarm, and a search and rescue operation was launched.

It’s worth noting that Holt was an experienced swimmer and spear fisherman, but the ocean conditions were rough with strong rip currents and waves that day, which made the search efforts difficult and hindered the chances of finding him.

The search went on for days but his body was never found.

Conspiracy

There have been several conspiracy theories surrounding the disappearance of Harold Holt.

Some theories suggest that Holt had planned his own disappearance due to personal and political reasons. However, there is no evidence to support these claims. Holt’s family and friends reject these theories as did many members of the media and public at the time.

Another theory is that Holt was kidnapped by a foreign government, as mentioned earlier, specifically China or the Soviet Union because Holt had been a strong advocate for the US-Australia alliance and had increased Australian involvement in the Vietnam War.

This theory is also not supported by any evidence and there is no official record or statement which suggests this is a credible theory.

In the book The Prime Minister Was A Spy by Anthony Grey, the author makes the claim that Harold Holt was a spy working for China and that he was collected on that day in 1967 by a Chinese submarine:

Anthony Grey was a former Reuters correspondent, best known for being held captive by the Chinese government from 1967 to 1969. He later turned to writing novels, several of which featured main characters who fell in love with Asian countries as young men.
In May 1983, Grey received an anonymous call from a man claiming to have discovered the final fate of Harold Holt. They spent the next two months going over a manuscript, and eventually agreed that the story would be published under Grey’s name. Grey’s anonymous caller was later identified as Ronald Titcombe, a former Royal Australian Navy officer.

The book goes on to suggest that Harold Holt lived out the remainder of his days in China, undercover.

Where did Anthony Grey source his information?

The book's source was not Anthony Grey, the British author, but instead, a former Lieutenant Commander (Navy) Ronald Titcombe, MBE.

Titcombe was said to be a professional conman according to a former Navy colleague which was described in an article by The Age in 2005.

A former naval colleague who worked with him briefly in 1982 said simply: ‘he was a friend but also a professional con man’. Having spoken to Titcombe myself, I believe the story is a complete fabrication.

With no evidence and no body ever recovered, the conspiracy theories continued to develop in the years that followed. There were even tales of UFO abductions!

Harold Holt’s Medical Conditions

Harold Holt had a shoulder injury that was known to his friends, a personal physician, and an orthopedic surgeon, this was described as a back issue at the time.

Holt was reported to have been taking morphine for his shoulder injury, as explored in a 2006 documentary and other reports had suggested that just prior to Holt’s disappearance, he had struggled when swimming and spearfishing as recent as May 1967. Holt was diving at Cheviot Beach on the Mornington Peninsula and had to be dragged ashore by his diving partner. His face had turned purple and he vomited a lot of seawater. Holt had said about the incident “This is the closest to drowning in my life!”

What do you think happened to Harold Holt?

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