Anecdote for the Day

Harold Holt (1908-1967), pictured above with his stepdaughters-in-law in 1967,

Parliament recently honoured the memory of former Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt, whose disappearance in dangerous surf conditions while spearfishing off Cheviot Beach in Victoria took place on 17 December 1967, 50 years ago.  His body was never recovered.

I have previously mentioned that one of the ways in which he has been honoured is by having the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre, a public swimming pool complex located in Glen Iris in Melbourne, named after him.

When Holt disappeared, an intensive search was mounted at Cheviot Beach.

News bulletins kept the public informed.  As night fell and the search had to be discontinued, TV newsreader Geoff Raymond dutifully notified the audience that at Cheviot Beach, everything had "come to a dead halt.”

It was one of the things he remained remembered for and was again widely mentioned in the newspaper reports on his death in 2011.