Henry Gullett

Sir Henry Somer Gullett KCMG CB (26 March 1878 – 13 August 1940) was an Australian journalist, military historian and politician. He was a war correspondent during World War I and contributed to the official history of Australia's involvement in the war. He later served in federal parliament from 1925 until his death in 1940 and held senior ministerial office.

Gullett grew up in country Victoria. He left school at the age of 12 but began a career in journalism through family connections. During World War I he was attached to Australian units on the Western Front and the Sinai and Palestine campaign, and also did work for the War Records Section. He contributed a volume to the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Gullett was elected to parliament in 1925 as an "independent Nationalist". He joined S. M. Bruce's government as Minister for Trade and Customs (1928–1929) and then became deputy opposition leader (1929–1931) after the government's defeat. Gullett held a series of senior portfolios in the United Australia Party (UAP) governments of the 1930s, serving as Minister for Trade and Customs (1931–1933), External Affairs (1939–1940), Information (1939–1940), and Scientific and Industrial Research (1940). He was killed in the 1940 Canberra air disaster, along with two cabinet colleagues and the head of the army.

Early life Gullett was born on 26 March 1878 in the Goulburn Valley of Victoria, in either Harston or Toolamba West according to different sources. He was the son of Rose Mary and Charles William Gullett; his father was born in London and his mother in Victoria. arriving in England in early 1917, Later in 1932, Gullett and Stanley Bruce represented Australia at the British Empire Economic Conference in Ottawa, which attempted to establish Imperial Preference, a system of tariff concession within the British Empire. He suffered from poor health on his return and resigned from the ministry in January 1933. In the same month he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for his work at the Ottawa Conference.