The Melbourne establishment’s worst-kept secret has been revealed – Zara Fell and Harold Holt were lovers.

When
Zara was married to Englishman James Fell, she got pregnant to Harold.
Twins Andrew and Sam were born, Zara left Fell and took up again with
the only love of her life, Harold Holt. The rest is history.

In
the Melbourne of the 1920s and 1930s, many establishment girls had
notoriously short gestation periods; virginity was regarded by many as
mandatory; in fact, a huge proportion of girls were “well on the way”
when they demurely walked to the altars of Christ Church, South Yarra
or St. Johns, Toorak.

Harold and Zara Dickens were introduced
by Harold’s Wesley College mate, “Spot” Turnbull, and the couple fell
in love. It was a tempestuous relationship, full of rows and
recriminations, and Zara was packed off to London hoping she’d forget
her lover. She did – temporarily. Swept off her feet by a dashing
Englishman, James Fell, she married him, returning to Melbourne to give
birth to their son, Nicky.

She and Harold met again and the
flame was rekindled. Zara returned to Fell, pregnant with Sam and
Andrew. The charade that the boys were Fell’s continued throughout
their lives, but no-one close to the family was fooled, including the
twins. This Mills and Boon episode was by no means unique; it’s just
that the players were huge on the Australian political and social scene
where rumours prevail – in this case they proved to be true.