HOLT FROM THE BLUE
Missing PM wrote to Katter Sr before disappearance
PRIME Minister Harold Holt was looking forward to a “change of scenery” after an “abnormally difficult year” in the days before his fateful final swim in 1967.
In an unearthed letter to then Member for Kennedy Bob Katter Sr dated December 14, 1967 – three days before his disappearance at Cheviot Bay, Victoria – Australia’s 17th Prime Minister ( pictured) told his friend it had been a strenuous year and he was looking forward to “refreshment of spirit” over Christmas.
It was one of the last letters Holt signed before he vanished.
Holt’s family does not believe the letter indicates foul play or suicide played a part in his death.
Grandson Robert Holt yesterday said the letter sounded “very ‘ Harold’ to me”.
“IT has been a quite abnormally difficult and strenuous year.”
Days after penning those words, Prime Minister Harold Holt went swimming at Cheviot Beach in Victoria and was never seen again.
Fifty years later, a letter Mr Holt wrote days before his disappearance and addressed to Robert “Bob” Katter Sr, the patriarch of the Katter political dynasty, has been unearthed.
The piece of Australian history written by Mr Holt to his friend Mr Katter Sr – the then member for Kennedy, father to Bob Katter Jnr and grandfather to state member Robbie Katter – was found in an old suitcase.
In the letter, dated just three days before his fateful swim on December 17, 1967, Mr Holt describes his challenging year in politics and his desire for a change of scenery.
The letter is believed to have come about after Mr Katter Sr, who had been elected as Kennedy MP in 1966, mailed a Christmas card to his good friend and colleague.
The letter is dated “14th December 1967”, three days before Mr Holt’s mysterious disappearance and almost 50 years ago to the day.
Joy Katter, second wife of the late Robert Katter Sr, said the two politicians had met on a few occasions.
“There was quite an appreciation of friendship there,” Mrs Katter said.
“Bob ( Sr), as everyone did, thought he was a great prime minister.”
Mrs Katter said a particularly poignant paragraph in the letter caught her attention when she found the aged document in an old suitcase.
“It was only after moving from Mount Isa to Charters Towers to Townsville that I went through those big old suitcases,” she said.
“There’s just one particular paragraph where Harold Holt said it’s been a particularly busy year and … of course it was just before Christmas when he disappeared.
“His secretary told Bob ( Sr) this was one of the last letters that he signed.”
Mr Katter Snr passed away in 1990, and Mrs Katter said it was unlikely his son and grandson would know that the letter existed.
Mr Holt’s grandson, also named Robert, spoke to the Bulletin about the letter and his grandfather’s passion for reaching out to his colleagues and thanking them for their work.
“It sounds very ‘ Harold’ to me,” he said. “I think it’s a great letter.
“He’s obviously a very humane person, he’s very caring.
“He got the most joy from the personal connection with politics.”
Robert Holt said conspiracy theories about his grandfather’s death had continued to surface for half a century, with one of the most widely circulated being that he was kidnapped by Chinese spies.
“I think my grandmother’s response to that was best: he didn’t even like Chinese food, so it’s unlikely,” Mr Holt said.
While the circumstances surrounding Mr Holt’s disappearance remain one of Australia’s enduring mysteries, Robert Holt said he did not believe foul play or suicide was to blame for his grandfather’s death.
“He disappeared in the surf, and sadly that happens every year to Australians,” he said.
“It’s incomprehensible that it could be the prime minister, and we come up with these theories to try and make sense of it. The idea today that a prime minister could go for a swim on his own is unheard of now; security certainly changed significantly.”
Robert Holt said the letter echoed the sentiments of anyone winding down for the Christmas holiday period, not the sentiments of someone contemplating taking their own life.
“I think that’s how most working Australians feel; I certainly feel that way right now,” he said. “There were certainly other plans that he’d made for the following year that he was looking forward to, and he was very much looking forward to the holidays.
“He spent the morning playing with his granddaughter, my cousin Sophie, and laughed about how he had made a new friend; certainly not signs of a man who was in a desperate situation.
“He loved going down to the beach; he was a guy that really loved life.”
Recently re- elected Traeger MP Robbie Katter said he was not aware of his family’s slice of history.
“That’s amazing, I wasn’t aware of that,” he said. “All I can say is that’s really interesting.”
He said it was interesting to reflect on a prime minister who was feeling the pressure of office.
“It’s amazing that it was my grandad that he was sharing it with,” Robbie Katter said. “It’s a lot more than just a letter. When you put it into context it really tells a piece of history, it’s a pretty big find.”
While he did not know of the letter specifically, Robbie Katter said that he did know of Mr Holt’s regular getaways to hide out at Mission Beach, between Cardwell and Innisfail.
“He ( Mr Holt) had a bit of a connection with the North,” he said.
“We had a funny bloke who used to live in Charters ( Towers); he used to do all the maintenance at mum and dad’s house and he said he knew Harold Holt.
“He used to tell stories but we never knew if they were true. We found out later he worked at a bakery at Mission Beach; he ( Mr Holt) used to holiday at Mission Beach regularly.”
Robert Holt, a management consultant at leading global management consulting firm A. T. Kearney, reflected on time spent with his family in an area of the world his grandfather loved so dearly.
“He had a huge fondness for that area at Mission Beach,” he said.
“I was lucky enough to spend many years as a boy with my grandmother at a fishing hut there.”
Robert Holt said his grandfather used to visit the area to complete his budgets each year away from the pressure of the media.
“He’d vanish up to the middle of nowhere; the journalists would always try to find out where he was and the locals would never tell them,” he said.
“He loved it up there, as we all did as a family.”
Robert Holt was in Parliament in Canberra this week for a 50th anniversary commemoration of his grandfather’s disappearance, along with his father Sam Holt, Harold Holt’s press secretary Tony Eggleston and former Higgins MP, treasurer and friend of the family Peter Costello.
“I was joking with Peter Costello during the tribute to Harold. I asked him if he had his own tropical oasis to escape to when he had to do his budgets,” Robert Holt said.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull led an outpouring of tributes to Mr Holt on Wednesday, pausing to remember his achievements in his time as Australia’s 17th prime minister.
“As we near the 50th anniversary of his untimely death we acknowledge the prime minister and the man, the profound impact that he made as a parliamentarian and leader of our nation,” Mr Turnbull said.
Robert Holt said both major parties talked about his grandfather’s greatest achievements, specifically dismantling the White Australia policy and granting rights to indigenous Australians.