Zara Bate was an Australian fashion designer, businesswoman, author, and prominent prime ministerial wife. She founded and led the Melbourne fashion house Magg, helped shape Australian clothing and public uniforms, served as wife of Prime Minister Harold Holt, and was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1968.
Background
Ethnicity:
Her mother, Violet MacDonald, was born in Scotland, and biographical reference works identify Scottish cultural heritage in the family.
Zara Kate Dickins was born on 10 March 1909 at Kew, Melbourne, the second of four children of Sydney Herbert Dickins, a merchant, and Violet MacDonald, who was born in Scotland. Her father was associated with a food-processing business, and during the Second World War she contributed to its marketing by designing packaging and advertisements for the Tandaco trademark.
She was educated at home before attending Ruyton Girls' School in Kew from 1919 to 1924 and Toorak College in 1925. At sixteen she met Harold Holt, then a law student at the University of Melbourne. Her early adult life combined family responsibilities with independent commercial and creative work in Melbourne's fashion and business circles.
Education
Bate was educated initially at home, then attended Ruyton Girls' School, Kew, from 1919 to 1924 and Toorak College in 1925. Ruyton, founded in 1878, was one of Melbourne's established girls' schools, while Toorak College, founded in 1877, provided secondary education within the city's expanding tradition of private education for young women.
Her education was followed by practical training in fashion design, dressmaking, retailing, and business management rather than by a documented university course. This combination of formal schooling and commercial experience shaped a career that joined clothing design with entrepreneurship and public presentation.
Career
In 1930, during the Depression, Dickins borrowed £150 from her father and opened a dress shop in Little Collins Street, Melbourne, with Betty James. When James left the partnership two years later, Dickins sold the business and travelled overseas. During the war years she worked in the marketing of her father's food-processing business, designing packaging and advertisements.
In 1949 she resumed her fashion career with Betty Grounds, opening the Magg salon in Toorak. Bate served as chief designer while Grounds managed business affairs. Magg became known for formal wear and later operated a boutique in the Myer Emporium in Melbourne and a shop at Double Bay in Sydney. In 1961 a Magg evening dress won the Australian Gown of the Year award; in 1962 Miss Australia Tania Verstak wore a Magg gown when she won the Miss International contest.
Bate also contributed to public and ceremonial design. She chaired the Australian committee overseeing uniforms for the Australian pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal and advised on Australian women's uniforms for the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games. As wife of Prime Minister Harold Holt, she undertook the public role of hostess at The Lodge in Canberra and was associated with its dramatic refurbishment and presentation.
After Holt's disappearance at Cheviot Beach in December 1967, Bate travelled overseas for memorial and diplomatic events, including a service at Westminster Abbey, lunch with Queen Elizabeth II at Sandringham, and a visit to the White House. She sold Magg in 1976 but continued to take an interest in design. In 1979 she became chairman of the Yves Saint Laurent board in Melbourne, and in 1980 retired to Surfers Paradise, Queensland.
Achievements
She founded and developed the Magg fashion house, which became known for formal wear and operated in Melbourne and Sydney.
A Magg evening dress won the Australian Gown of the Year award in 1961.
She chaired the Australian committee that oversaw uniforms for the Australian pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal.
She contributed to the design of Australian women's uniforms for the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games.
(Bate's autobiographical account of her life with Harold H...)
1968
Personality
Contemporary descriptions presented Bate as flamboyant, energetic, humorous, and socially confident. The Australian Dictionary of Biography also characterized her as possessing an astute and successful business mind beneath an ebullient public manner.
Physical Characteristics:
Bate was approximately 158 centimetres tall and was described as short and plump. She said that what she regarded as her difficult figure had contributed to her interest in fashion design.
Interests
She enjoyed reading, walking, swimming, and fishing.
Connections
Bate's first husband was Colonel James Heywood Fell, whom she married in 1935. They had three sons: Nicholas, born in 1937, and twins Sam and Andrew, born in 1939; the sons later adopted the surname Holt.
She married Harold Edward Holt in 1946. Holt became Australia's seventeenth prime minister in January 1966 and disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach, Victoria, on 17 December 1967; his body was never recovered. Bate married the farmer and Liberal politician Henry Jefferson Percival Bate on 19 February 1969. Jeff Bate died in 1984.
Father:
Sydney Herbert Dickins
A merchant and Bate's father.
Mother:
Violet MacDonald Dickins
Bate's mother, who was born in Scotland.
husband:
James Heywood Fell
A colonel and Bate's first husband.
Son:
Nicholas Holt
Born in 1937; he was one of Bate's three sons and later used the surname Holt.
Son:
Sam Holt
One of Bate's twin sons, born in 1939, who later used the surname Holt.
Son:
Andrew Holt
One of Bate's twin sons, born in 1939, who later used the surname Holt.
husband:
Harold Edward Holt
Australia's seventeenth prime minister, whom Bate married in 1946.
husband:
Henry Jefferson Percival Bate
A farmer and Liberal politician whom Bate married in 1969.
