Henry Gullett

The Honourable Sir Henry Gullett KCMG
Member of the Australian Parliament for Henty
In office 14 November 1925 – 13 August 1940
Preceded by	Frederick Francis
Succeeded by	Arthur Coles
Personal details
Born	Henry Somer Gullett (1878-03-26)26 March 1878 Toolamba West, Victoria, Australia
Died	13 August 1940(1940-08-13) (aged 62) Canberra, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Nationalist (to 1931) UAP (from 1931)
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Frater (m. 1912)
Relations	Jo Gullett (son) Penne Hackforth-Jones (granddaughter) Henry Gullett (uncle) Lucy Gullett (cousin)
Occupation	Journalist

Sir Henry Somer Gullett KCMG (26 March 1878 – 13 August 1940) was an Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1925 until his death in the 1940 Canberra air disaster. He was a minister in the governments of Stanley Bruce, Joseph Lyons, Earle Page, and Robert Menzies, including as Minister for External Affairs under Menzies.

Early life

Gullett was born on 26 March 1878 in Toolamba West, Victoria. He was the son of Rose Mary (née Somer) and Charles William Gullett; his father was born in London and his mother in Victoria. Gullett was educated at state schools, but left school at the age of twelve following his father's death in order to assist his mother with farmwork. He was encouraged to pursue a career in journalism by his uncle Henry Gullett, at the time an associate editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. He began his career by writing on agricultural matters for the Geelong Advertiser. In 1900, Gullett moved to Sydney to join his uncle at the Herald. He moved to England in 1908 and became a London correspondent for The Daily Telegraph and The Sun, as well as writing freelance for British publications. While in England, Gullett developed an interest in migration policy. In 1914, he published The Opportunity in Australia, "an illustrated, practical handbook on Australian rural life" with an autobiographical first chapter; it was designed to encourage prospective migrants to Australia.^[1]

World War I and aftermath

In 1915, Gullett became an official Australian correspondent on the Western Front. In July 1916, he joined the first Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as a gunner. From early 1917 he worked with Charles Bean in collecting war records and later with the AIF as a war correspondent in Palestine. In 1919, he was briefly director of the Australian War Museum. He started writing volume VII of The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, covering the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, which he completed in 1922. In 1920, Billy Hughes appointed him head of the Australian Immigration Bureau, but he resigned in February 1922 over disagreements in relation to immigration policy and returned to journalism.^[1]

Political career

Gullett failed to win a seat at the 1922 election, but he won the seat of Division of Henty for the Nationalist Party in 1925 election and held it for the rest of his life. He was Minister for Trade and Customs from November 1928 in the third Bruce Ministry until its fall in October 1929. On the 1931 election of the United Australia Party government, he was again Minister for Trade and Customs and attended the British Empire Economic Conference in Ottawa, which attempted to establish Imperial Preference, a system of tariff concession within the British Empire. As a result, he was made Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in January 1933, but he resigned as minister on the same month on health grounds. In October 1934, he became minister without portfolio, with responsibility for trade treaties, in the second Lyons Ministry and he negotiated several trade agreements. He resigned in March 1937 over disagreements with Cabinet over trade policy.^[1]

In April 1939, Gullett became Minister for External Affairs in the first Menzies Ministry and Minister for Information from September 1939. However, when Robert Menzies formed a coalition with the Country Party in March 1940, he was moved to Vice-President of the Executive Council, and Minister in charge of Scientific and Industrial Research. He was killed in the Canberra air disaster in August 1940.^[1]

Personal life

Gullett married Elizabeth Penelope Frater in 1912 and they had a son and a daughter. He was the father of Jo Gullett, who was Member for Henty from 1946 to 1955. He was also the grandfather of the actress Penne Hackforth-Jones.^[2]

References

External links

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