MS 3078 contains letters written by Sir Henry to his wife Penelope from Europe during the First World War, and Paris during the Peace Conference. There is a small amount of family correspondence including letters from Gullett's children, in particular from Jo and Sue Gullett. Other letters and telegrams congratulate Gullett on his knighthood in 1933, and his appointment to the ministry in 1939. Correspondents include parliamentarians, diplomats and acquaintances in the Armed Forces, and in particular Joseph A. Lyons, Sir Robert Menzies, John Latham, Sir Henry Chauvel, Professor A.E.V. Richardson, Sir Cyril Brudenell White, Lord Gowrie, Sir Archdale Parkhill and Charles Hawker.
Some notes from Gullett's early school days, ca. 1889, texts of parliamentary speeches and ministerial statements, newspaper cuttings, personal documents such as passports, letters to Lady Gullett, including one from Sir F. Gavan Duffy, and a large series on the Imperial Economic Conference in Ottawa are also contained in the collection (10 boxes).
The Acc13.045 instalment comprises the original papers of photocopies that are held in the National Library of Australia Manuscript collections Papers of Barbara Baynton MS 3077, Papers of Sir Henry and Lady Penelope Gullett MS 3078 and Papers of Henry Baynton Gullett MS 3079. The originals were lent to the Library in 1971 for copying and returned to the family, who have now donated them to the National Library of Australia (6 archives boxes, 1 medium folio box).
Henry Somer Gullett was born in Harston, Victoria in 1878. He worked as an official correspondent during the First World War, subsequently became director of the Australian Immigration Bureau and in 1925 was elected as the Federal member for the Victorian seat of Henty. He was appointed Minister for Trade and Customs in 1928 and was knighted in 1933 for his work as Australia's representative at the 1932 Imperial Economic Conference in Ottawa. Gullett was Minister for External Affairs in the 1939 Menzies government, and died the following year in an air disaster near Canberra. Further biographical information at http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/626062
Penelope Elizabeth Gullett was born at Coonamble, New South Wales in 1890, the daughter of Henry Frater and his wife Barbara (who later become known as the writer Barbara Baynton). She married Henry Somer (later Sir Henry) Gullett. They had two children: Henry Baynton Somer (Jo) and Susan (later Mrs P. Hackforth-Jones). After the death of her husband in 1940, Lady Gullett increasingly devoted herself to working for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. She died in 1960.
Find in other libraries at Trove