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New probe into missing PM mystery
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- It's a mystery which has entered Australian folklore -- the disappearance of the nation's prime minister from a windswept beach almost 36 years ago. The body of the 59-year-old conservative leader Harold Holt has never been found, sparking a raft of conspiracy theories but little in the way of evidence of what really happened. A new inquiry into Holt's disappearance, announced Monday by the coroner for the state government of Victoria, in unlikely to shed much light on the mystery, but it will provide legal closure for the case. A change in the law in Victoria now allows a coronial inquest into the suspected death of a person where a body has not been recovered -- something that was not permitted when Holt went missing in 1967. Victorian coroner Graeme Johnstone has told his staff to gather information about Holt's disappearance and he will then consider holding a public inquest. "Police will always leave open files on cases where there's no body so technically it's still an open file and this will be closure for it in a legal sense," coronial principal registrar Rick Roberts told reporters on Monday. What is known about the case is that Holt, a keen swimmer, went for a dip in heavy seas off Cheviot Beach on the south coast of Victoria on December 17, 1967, and never returned. Less fanciful theories suggest Holt was caught in a current, was swept out to sea and drowned -- a not unusual prospect, even for a reputedly strong swimmer such as Holt. Also possible is that the prime minister was taken by a shark. TheoriesBut the lack of a body has fueled conspiracy theorists and even generated a colloquialism: In Australia, to "Do a Harold Holt" is a slang expression meaning to depart mysteriously or unexpectedly. Like an antipodean version of the John F. Kennedy assassination, Holt's demise has spurred the imagination. Among the wilder suggestions are that Holt swam out to sea to meet a Chinese submarine, which collected him as a defector. Holt was about to be sprung for top-level spying activities, the theory goes. Others suggest Holt was eliminated by the U.S.'s CIA because he was planning to pull Australian troops out of the war in Vietnam, a theory which finds little tangible support from government documents relating to the period. Still others say Holt was met by a boat and spirited off to the south of France where he lived incognito with a French lover. Holt was Australia's 18th prime minister, taking the reins in January 1966 following the retirement of the long-serving Sir Robert Menzies. John McEwan took over as caretaker prime minister on 19 December 1967 and held the top job for only 20 days before being replaced by John Gorton.
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