A solicitor by profession, Harold Holt entered Parliament as a member of the United Australia Party following a by-election for the seat of Fawkner (Victoria) in 1935. Holt was a backbench member of the Lyons government. He first entered the ministry in 1939 as Minister Assisting the Minister for Supply and Development in the first government of Robert Menzies.
With the outbreak of war, Holt resigned from the ministry in order to enlist in the Second AIF. He was recalled to the government following the death of three senior ministers (Fairbairn, Gullett and Street) in an aircraft accident in August 1940, and appointed Minister for Labour and National Service. He held this portfolio until the collapse of the government in October 1941.
Holt served as a minister throughout the 16 years of the Menzies government (1949–66), holding the positions of Minister for Immigration (1949–56), Minister for Labour and National Service (1949–58) and Treasurer (1958–66). On Menzies' retirement in January 1966, Holt became leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister.
During his time in office, Holt strongly supported United States' involvement in Vietnam. One of his first acts as Prime Minister was to increase the size of the Australian forces in Vietnam by one third.
An active sportsman, Harold Holt disappeared while swimming in heavy seas off Portsea in Victoria on 17 December 1967. His body was never recovered.
The National Archives holds many records relating to Harold Holt's years in parliament, including his period as Prime Minister and the many years he spent as a minister. The personal records of Harold Holt held by the Archives are listed below. All records are held by the Archives in Canberra.
The Archives also holds many records about Harold Holt and the issues he was involved in during his years in government. Information about Holt will also occur in the records of a range of Commonwealth departments, especially those of the Departments of Immigration, Labour and National Service and the Treasury.
RecordSearch, the Archives database, will help you locate more records on this Prime Minister. You can also use it to identify the agencies that created the records. PhotoSearch may also contain photos pertaining to your subject. Both RecordSearch and PhotoSearch are available online and in all Archives reading rooms. Reference staff there can help you, or you can email ref@naa.gov.au.
The Archives has also published a series of research guides about prime ministers. You can download them as PDFs, or order the published versions from the Archives shop. See Prime Ministers Guides.
The National Archives of Australia has developed a new portal website on Australia's 25 prime ministers. It features short biographies of the prime ministers and their wives, a ready reference called Fast Facts, photographs, original documents and more.
The portal's research map enables you to find Australian and overseas collections with archives on Australia's prime ministers. Visit primeministers.naa.gov.au.
As part of this new portal website, we have made a suite of new webpages about prime ministerial records in the National Archives.
Comments or other feedback can be sent to archives@naa.gov.au
updated June 2003
