MISSING PRIME MINISTER MYSTERY

 

The Last Days of  Harold   Holt   offering  by  Gaston Renard  Fine and Rare Books, Melbourne . 

A former Northern Territory News   reporter, the late Keith Willey ,covered the  1967 disappearance of Prime Minister  Holt while swimming off Cheviot Beach , Victoria, on December 17,l967 . Keen  on spearfishing , Harold Holt  and his wife , Zara , spent  much  time  in North Queensland .

In the  Little Darwin file on  Harold Holt  is a  letter showing that  Dame Zara Holt  was  concerned  about  the   impact of  drilling  for  oil  on  the  Great  Barrier  Reef.

In his university days, Harold Holt had an  artist  friend -   John Horatio  Busst,  an environmentalist who went on to  strongly campaign  to  prevent mining of  the  Great Barrier  Reef .  

In the Special Collections   section  of  the Eddie  Koiki  Mabo Library , James Cook University, Townsville , are  Busst's  private  papers, including three boxes of  letters.

 Busst  wrote  to US President Johnson seeking  his support  for a move to set up  adjoining   marine and  wildlife parks in Australia in  honour of  Harold  Holt . 

Holt's  love of  spear fishing   resulted   in  him  ,third from the right , being  met  by a flip- flopping  university  student  at James Cook University. 

One absurd explanation about the PM's disappearance , his body never  found ,  claimed  he  had  been   taken away  in  a  Chinese  submarine  .