Australian
Screen

Clip description

This is mute unedited black-and-white footage establishing the Cheviot Beach site and showing members of the beach party retracing their steps in the moments when they last saw Prime Minister Harold Holt.

Curator’s notes

Footage in this clip contains aerials of Cheviot Beach (also known at the time as Back Beach Quarantine Station or Quarantine Back Beach) two days after Prime Minister Holt disappeared. The rocky, hazardous nature of the coastline is obvious. The re-enactment party down on the beach can be made out on the left of frame. According to the police report, the tide was unusually high on the day of the disappearance. The clip continues with ground-level footage of Marjorie Gillespie, one of the members of the beach party, retracing her steps with a police inspector. The height of the surf can be seen in the background.

In her statement to the police, Marjorie Gillespie said, 'I saw that Harold was still swimming but seemed to be getting further away all the time and I felt very strongly that all was not well. I watched Harold continuously and the water became turbulent around him very suddenly and seemed to boil and these conditions seemed to swamp him. I lost sight of him.’ Marjorie Gillespie and the inspector are then joined by Alan Stewart, another member of the beach party. In his statement to the police, Alan Stewart said, 'I noticed her (Marjorie Gillespie) looking intently beyond me in the direction of where I last saw Mr Holt. I joined Mrs Gillespie in the shallows and also looked to see whether I could find Mr Holt. We stayed for a few moments trying to locate him without any results.’