The Australian Women's Register

This series consists of about 195 photographs, four sound recordings and four films relating to Prime Minister Harold Edward Holt and his wife, Mrs Zara Holt (later Dame Zara). The material mainly covers the period when Holt was Prime Minister (1966-1967), although many of the photographs relate to his earlier career, particularly as Minister for Immigration (1949-1956). Several items relate specifically to Mrs Holt. The photographs include official portraits, family photographs, Australian News and Information Bureau and other official photographs covering a wide range of Holt’s official engagements both in Australia and overseas. A number of the photographs relate to Mrs Zara Holt as wife of a senior political figure, both before and after Holt’s death. A few relate to the first year of her subsequent marriage to another politician, H J P (Jeff) Bate and to her fashion business ‘Magg’. Two of the sound recordings relate to Holt. One of these includes the speeches made at the historic Commonwealth Parliamentary Association luncheon given in Westminster Hall, London in May 1953, when Holt was Chairman of the Association, and the other is a recording of the speech he gave at the 36th Session of the International Labour Conference the same year. The other two recordings are the song ‘Dame Zara’, by the group ‘The Wheelbarrow’, and a cassette tape of Mrs Holt responding to ‘Dorothy Dix’ questions.