Harold Edward Elliott was born 19 June 1878 in West Charlton, Victoria, the third son and fifth child of eight children of a farmer and prospector, Thomas Elliott, and his wife Helen, née Janvrin. To his family, he was nicknamed "Harkey". He grew up on the family farms, and attended the local school, known as the Rock Tank. In 1894, his father was one of six men who made a sensational find on the goldfields at Coolgardie, Western Australia. They sold their claim to the Earl of Fingall for £180,000 and a sixth interest. Fingall then floated it in London as a company valued at £700,000. This changed the family's circumstances. Debts were paid, and the farms acquired outright. The family moved to a new house named "Elsinore" near Lake Wendouree in Ballarat, Victoria. In January 1895, Elliott commenced at Ballarat College, a private Presbyterian boys' school, where one of the school houses, "Elliott", is now named after him. Despite concerns about the adequacy of his Rock Tank education, Elliott topped his class in Latin, bookkeeping, and Bible studies in his first year. He topped the class in seven of his eight subjects in 1896, and went on to become dux of the school in 1897.