On This Day - December 17th 1967
Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt goes missing whilst swimming at Portsea, Victoria.
Harold Edward Holt was born in Sydney on 5 August 1908. After studying law at the University of Melbourne, he practised as a solicitor before being elected to Federal Parliament in 1936. After a thirty-year career in politics, he became Prime Minister following the retirement of Sir Robert Menzies in January 1966.
On 17 December 1967, Holt went swimming at Cheviot Beach on Point Nepean near Portsea, on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. After plunging into the notoriously rough surf, Holt disappeared. He was never seen again, and theories as to his fate have abounded since then. These theories include that he committed suicide, faked his own death in order to run away with his mistress, or that he was a Chinese spy. Despite an extensive search, neither his body nor any trace of his clothes was ever found. He was officially presumed dead on 19 December 1967.