On 22 December 1967, only five days after his disappearance, a hastily arranged memorial service for Prime Minister Harold Holt took place at St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in Melbourne.
Thousands of people attended and flooded the streets around the cathedral. It was a sombre affair for a nation still in shock.
Former Australian prime ministers, including Sir Robert Menzies, were in attendance and world leaders and royalty travelled to Australia to pay their respects. President Lyndon Johnson, who only the previous year had toured Australia, made the trip. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was represented by Charles, Prince of Wales.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.