Jo Gullett

Henry Baynton Somer "Jo" Gullett, AM, MC (16 December 1914 – 24 August 1999) was an Australian soldier, politician, grazier, diplomat and journalist.

He was the son of former Cabinet Minister Sir Henry Somer Gullett, the grandson of author Barbara Baynton and an uncle of actor Penne Hackforth-Jones.

Gullett spent some of his early childhood in Canberra, at Hill Station (which much later became an upmarket restaurant) in what is now the industrial suburb of Hume.

As a supernumerary officer with the 8th Battalion Royal Scots, he became the first Australian soldier to land on the beach during the Invasion of Normandy on D-Day.

[8] Due to the very high officer casualty rate, he was soon appointed as a company commander with the Royal Scots, and served in this role until he was further wounded in July 1944.

After recovery from his latest wounds, he returned to Australia and attempted to rejoin the 2/6th in New Guinea, but was thwarted by higher command, who ordered that he be restrained – by force if necessary – from embarking.

Prime Minister Robert Menzies, in a confidential report to his colleagues about the defeat of his party in the election, laid out what he saw as the reasons for the loss.

[citation needed] In the Melbourne Argus of 12 February 1947, he wrote: Further, at a press conference in the same month, he said of Jews: Menzies has been criticised for his preference for older men of his own generation in his cabinet.

Gullett had a long association with Canberra – he spent some of his youth there, and in married life, he took up the lease on Lambrigg station in 1949, the ACT rural property which had earlier been home to William Farrer during the time when he developed an important strain of rust-resistant wheat.

[18] Gullett was the author of two volumes of memoirs, Not As a Duty Only (1976), which covered his war service, and Good Company: Horseman, Soldier, Politician (1992), which is a more complete autobiography.

Gullett in 1946