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Harold Holt Facts & Worksheets

Harold Holt was the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from January 26, 1966 to December 19, 1967.

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Harold Edward Holt was the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from January 26, 1966 to December 19, 1967. Holt was Prime Minister for only 22 months before going missing in December 1967 while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria.

See the fact file below for more information on Harold Holt, or you can download our 28-page Harold Holt worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE

  • Harold Holt was born on August 5, 1908, in Stanmore, New South Wales, the eldest of Thomas and Olive (Williams) Holt’s two children. He and his brother Cliff attended three different schools in Sydney and Adelaide from 1913 and 1919.
  • In 1921, Thomas Holt enrolled his two kids at Wesley College, where future Prime Minister Menzies thrived. Harold Holt’s parents divorced in 1918.
  • Holt’s mother died when he was sixteen in 1924, and he did not attend her funeral.
  • Holt attended Randwick Public School but also briefly attended Abbotsholme and Killara. When he was 11, he was enrolled in Wesley Preparatory School in Melbourne. There, Harold received numerous honors for sportsmanship, character, and leadership.
  • Holt sang at his school’s annual Speech Night in December 1926. He was awarded a scholarship at Queen’s College at the University of Melbourne, where he began his law studies in 1927. Moreover, he was also seen as being a good leader.
  • He was president of the Sports and Social Club and the Law Students’ Society, as well as a member of the Inter-University Debating team and the United Australia Organization ‘A’ Grade debating team.
  • Holt earned his bachelor’s degree in law in 1930. He was admitted to the Victorian Bar in November 1932 and completed his articles with Fink, Best & Miller in Melbourne.  
  • He began working as a solicitor in 1933 after being unable to find work as a barrister due to the Great Depression. Still, the depression prevented him from finding work as a lawyer.

POLITICAL CAREER

  • Holt became interested in politics in the early 1930s, and in 1933 he joined the Prahran branch of the United Australia Party (UAP).  
  • Holt ran for the UAP in the safe seat of Yarra in the 1934 federal election but lost to former Prime Minister James Scullin.  
  • In March 1935, he ran unsuccessfully for the safe Victorian state Labor seat of Clifton Hill.  
  • Holt was re-elected to the federal House of Representatives on August 17, 1935, in a by-election for the marginally conservative seat of Fawkner. He was one of Australia’s youngest MPs at the age of 27. He held the position until 1949. Holt reportedly had few outside interests aside from his well-known passion for sports and the sea after that. He was a ‘workaholic,’ working up to 16 hours per day and sleeping 4–5 hours per night. 
  • After the tragic death of the incumbent Joseph Lyons and the brief caretaker cabinet of Sir Earle Page, Holt’s mentor Robert Menzies became Prime Minister in 1939. 
  • Holt’s devotion, enthusiasm, and competence led him to quick advancement, and he was designated Minister without Portfolio in April 1939, helping the Minister of Supply and Development. 
  • He was appointed Minister in Charge of Scientific and Industrial Research in October 1939 and Acting Minister for Air and Civil Aviation throughout November–December 1939. 
  • Holt entered the Second Australian Imperial Force as a gunner in May 1940 without quitting his position. Three Cabinet ministers and numerous high military officials were killed in an aviation accident in Canberra a few months later. Holt was recalled from the army by Menzies, who appointed him Minister without Portfolio to assist the Minister for Trade and Customs, earning him the ironic pseudonym “Gunner Holt.” 
  • Holt was promoted to Cabinet in October 1940, becoming Minister of Labour and National Service. One of his most notable achievements in this role was the passage of the Child Endowment Act in April 1941. 
  • Arthur Fadden, the head of the Country Party, took his post. Holt was one of the supporters that dropped their support, though he never stated the reason. 
  • The UAP was defeated in a no-confidence motion in October 1941, and its leader, John Curtin, was asked to form a new government. Menzies resigned as UAP leader. The UAP had essentially crumbled by 1944, and Menzies formally created the Liberal Party of Australia in 1945, forming a lasting partnership with the Country Party. 
  • It would be another decade before Holt was elected head of the Liberal Party. This elevation appeared to be the party’s belated attempt at modernization, a nod to the social and political upheavals simmering in the 1960s just as that vibrant decade was concluding.

LEGACY

  • He’d brought together divergent factions of free traders, liberal progressives, and right-wing ideologues to form the unusual but unified modern Liberal party. His word had become a ready surrogate for party agreement. It made leadership and government appear absurdly simple. 
  • Holt had been handed a tricky political chalice after such a long apprenticeship and a beloved predecessor. Menzies’ achievement had been aided in no small part by his authority. 
  • Holt had been returned in a landslide victory in the 1966 election, just months after taking government. He was the only Liberal member who could equal the Labor party’s new leader, Gough Whitlam, after that election. Holt, like Whitlam and unlike Menzies, was telegenic, a good media performer with a strong television presence. 
  • Harold Holt went missing while he was swimming near Portsea, Victoria, on December 17, 1967. An extensive search was conducted around and within Cheviot Beach, however, his body has never been found. Holt was presumed dead, and his funeral was attended by the many world leaders five days later. Although it is widely assumed that his death was caused by accidental drowning, a number of conspiracy theories have emerged, the most famous of which is that he was spying from the People’s Republic of China and was picked up by a Chinese submarine. 
  • Harold Holt’s memorial service at Melbourne’s St Paul’s Cathedral drew Australia’s largest gathering of international leaders, with 19 in attendance including Gough Whitlam. It was an incredible homage to a guy whose tenure as Prime Minister had only just begun. 

Harold Holt Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Harold Holt across 28 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Harold Holt, who was the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from January 26, 1966 to December 19, 1967.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Harold Holt Facts 
  2. #FACTBLUFF
  3. Guess Who?
  4. Important Personalities
  5. Without A Trace
  6. Scrabble Words
  7. Picture Perfect!
  8. Tale of Harold Holt
  9. In His Early Life
  10. The late Prime Minister
  11. #PostIt

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Harold Holt significant?

Holt encouraged Australia to be more involved with Asia and the Pacific. He made several trips to East Asian nations. The government of Holt also expanded Australia’s role in the Vietnam Conflict while still having friendly ties with Lyndon B. Johnson’s United States administration.

Who was Harold Holt’s wife?

Harold Edward Holt was the Prime Minister of Australia from 1966 to 1967. Zara Holt, his wife, brought invaluable connections and charm to her marriage which catalyzed Harold’s political career for 20 years prior to him becoming Prime Minister.

What happened to Harold Holt?

On the afternoon of December 17, 1967, Prime Minister Harold Holt went for a swim at Cheviot Beach, Victoria, and vanished without a trace. Despite an extensive search, no clues were discovered. There were no leads as to how he disappeared.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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