Sir Henry Somer Gullett KCMG CB (26 March 1878 – 13 August 1940) was an Australian journalist, military historian and politician.

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).

[a] He was the son of Rose Mary (née Somer) and Charles William Gullett; his father was born in London and his mother in Victoria.

[1] He grew up on his father's farm, a half-cleared selection of 320 acres (130 ha),[2] learning "milking, ploughing, harvesting and horsemanship even as he received his schooling".

He began his career writing on agriculture for the Geelong Advertiser, then in 1900 his uncle invited him to move to Sydney and join the staff of the Herald.

He briefly served as an ambulance driver, but declined a commission in the Grenadier Guards to return to Australia and enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).

[3] He enlisted as a gunner in the 2nd Division's ammunition column,[4] arriving in England in early 1917,[1] but his age and a bout of pleurisy rendered him unfit for frontline service.

[5] For the remainder of the war, Gullett was attached to various Australian units in the Sinai and Palestine campaign, including the Desert Mounted Corps, No.

[6] His "status as historian in uniform enabled him to move freely among all ranks", and he developed friendships with Banjo Patterson, Ross Smith and Richard Williams.

[1] In 1919, despite his dislike of Hughes, Gullett accepted the prime minister's invitation to become the inaugural director of the proposed Australian War Museum, working out of the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.

He allied himself with backbenchers holding similar views and in 1927 attracted attention by referring to Country Party leader Earle Page as "the most tragic Treasurer Australia had ever had".

[14] He was involved in the formation of the United Australia Party (UAP) in 1931, which saw former ALP minister Joseph Lyons succeed Latham as leader of the opposition.

[18] He travelled to England with his wife later that year to attend the Silver Jubilee of King George V, and to discuss trade with representatives of Britain and the other Dominions.

[20] Jay Pierrepont Moffat, the U.S. Consul in Sydney, observed in his diaries that Gullett "looked ill and tired" and was "constantly leaving his desk and taking some medicine at a cupboard in the corner".

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.