List of ambassadors of Australia to Indonesia

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Ambassador to Indonesia
Coat of Arms of Australia.svg
Penny Williams (1).jpg
Incumbent
Penny Williams
since 14 April 2021
StyleHis Excellency
ResidenceJakarta
Inaugural holderJohn Hood (Ambassador)
FormationApril 1950
WebsiteAustralian Embassy, Indonesia

The Australian Ambassador to Indonesia is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Embassy of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Republic of Indonesia. The position has the rank and status of an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and the Embassy in Jakarta is Australia's largest embassy and one of Australia's most important overseas posts.[1] The Embassy is assisted in their work by Consulates in Bali (since 1981), Makassar (since 2016) and Surabaya (since 2017).[2]

Posting history[]

The Chartered Bank Building at Kali Besar West, Batavia, site of the Australian Trade Commission from 1935.

On 30 August 1933 the Minister for Commerce, Frederick Stewart, secured Cabinet approval for the establishment of several Trade Commissions in the East, with Batavia in the Netherlands East Indies being one of the most likely locations.[3] However a decision to appoint a commissioner was delayed pending the report of Attorney General and Minister for External Affairs John Latham's fact-finding mission to the Far East, which found a dire need for Australian trade representative to improve mercantile connections in the region.[4][5] Following Latham's return the Australian Government agreed to appoint a new Trade Commissioner, and the appointment of to Batavia, alongside appointments to Tokyo and Shanghai, was announced on 7 June 1935 by acting Prime Minister Earl Page.[6] Arriving in September, Critchley met with Governor-General Bonifacius Cornelis de Jonge and set up offices in the Chartered Bank Building in Tambora, Old Batavia.[7] In January 1938, Critchley was succeeded by , who was given the new title of "Australian Government Commissioner", which was changed to remove confusion that the "Trade Commissioner" was merely a commercial representative.[8] Commissioner Peterson served until escaping to Australia a few days after the Japanese invasion of Java in 1942.

Early Australian arrangements to establish diplomatic relations with Indonesia after the Indonesian proclamation of Independence on 17 August 1945 were complicated by the British and Dutch involvement in military activities in Indonesia in the next few years. Australia was dissuaded from establishing a consulate-general in Batavia in 1945 and instead sent a political representative to be attached to the (AFNEI), the command controlling areas of the Dutch East Indies liberated from Japanese forces.[9] William Macmahon Ball, the Australian Political Representative to the AFNEI, arrived in Batavia on 7 November 1945 and returned to Australia in December 1945. In March 1946 the Department of External Affairs appointed Alfred Deakin Brookes as the new Political Representative. However, his departure in early June, owing to ill health, coincided with the arrival of Justice Richard Kirby, who acted as Political Representative in his absence before returning to Australia on 28 July 1946. Bertram Ballard was appointed as Australian Political Representative with AFNEI on 16 August 1946, as political representative Ballard was advised by Minister for External Affairs, Herbert Evatt directed him to establish informal relations with the Indonesians and to act as Australia's de facto representative to the republican government in Jogjakarta.[9]

The post of Consul-General was created following the departure of AFNEI in late 1946 following the Indonesia-Dutch settlement, and Ballard was formally appointed Consul-General on 5 December 1946 and accredited by the Netherlands East Indies Government on 12 February 1947. He held this appointment until September 1947 when Charles Eaton, the former Consul to Portuguese Timor, replaced him. In April 1950, the Consulate-General in Jakarta was raised to the status of an embassy, with the first Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, John Hood, appointed by External Affairs Minister Percy Spender.[9]

List of heads of mission[]

Trade Commissioner/Commissioner[]

Name Start of term End of term
(Trade Commissioner) 7 June 1935 January 1938
(Commissioner)[10][11] January 1938 3 March 1942

Political Representatives[]

Name Start of term End of term
William Macmahon Ball 7 November 1945 December 1945
Alfred Deakin Brookes March 1946 June 1946
Richard Kirby (Acting) June 1946 28 July 1946
Bertram Ballard 6 August 1946 5 November 1946

Consuls-General[]

Two men in light-coloured clothing, seated on a couch
Eaton as Australian Consul-General to Indonesia, with Sukarno in 1947
Name Start of term End of term
Bertram Ballard 5 December 1946 September 1947
Charles Eaton September 1947 April 1950

Ambassadors[]

Ambassador Start of term[12] End of term Notes
John Hood 24 June 1950 1953
Charles Kevin[13] 11 March 1953 1955 [14][15]
Walter Crocker 7 April 1955 1957
Laurence McIntyre 28 January 1957 1960
Patrick Shaw 6 March 1960 1962
K.C.O. Shann 6 November 1962 1966
Max Loveday 6 April 1966 1969
Gordon Jockel 7 March 1969 1972
Robert Furlonger 1 March 1972 1975
Richard Woolcott 3 March 1975 1978 [16]
Tom Critchley 17 May 1978 1981 [17]
Rawdon Dalrymple 18 March 1981 1985 [18]
Bill Morrison 28 April 1985 1989
Philip Flood 2 February 1989 1993
Allan Taylor 6 April 1993 1996 [19]
John McCarthy 1996 2001 [20]
Richard Smith 2001 2003
David Ritchie 2003 2005 [21]
Bill Farmer 2005 2010 [22]
Greg Moriarty August 2010 2014
Paul Grigson February 2015 27 February 2018 [23][24]
Gary Quinlan[25] 27 February 2018 14 April 2021 [26]
Penny Williams 1 September 2021 incumbent [27]

Consuls-General[]

Bali[]

Main article: List of Consuls-General of Australia in Bali

Makassar[]

Name Start of term End of term Notes
Richard Mathews 22 March 2016 2020 [28]
Bronwyn Robbins 26 June 2020 on-going [29]

Surabaya[]

Name Start of term End of term Notes
Chris Barnes 9 August 2017 on-going [30]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ CA 2744: Australian Embassy, Republic of Indonesia [Djakarta/Jakarta], National Archives of Australia, retrieved 11 January 2016
  2. ^ Bishop, Julie (26 February 2017). "Australia to open new Consulate-General in Surabaya" (Media release). Minister for Foreign Affairs. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  3. ^ Schevdin, Boris (2008). Emissaries of trade : a history of the Australian Trade Commissioner Service. Barton, ACT: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. p. 47.
  4. ^ Schevdin, Boris, pp. 50-51.
  5. ^ "TRADE WITH THE EAST". The Barrier Miner. Vol. XLVI, no. 13, 861 (HOME ed.). New South Wales, Australia. 21 December 1933. p. 5. Retrieved 4 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "TRADE". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 399. 8 June 1935. p. 19. Retrieved 4 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "TRADE COMMISSIONER IN BATAVIA". The Courier-Mail. No. 635. Brisbane. 11 September 1935. p. 6. Retrieved 25 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "COMMISSIONERS". The Canberra Times. Vol. 12, no. 3215. 7 January 1938. p. 1. Retrieved 25 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ a b c Metcalf, Karl (2001), "Chapter 2: External Affairs records", Near Neighbours: Records on Australia's Relations with Indonesia, Canberra: National Archives of Australia, archived from the original on 30 August 2014
  10. ^ "Trade Commissioner For Netherlands India". The Telegraph (SECOND ed.). Queensland, Australia. 15 January 1938. p. 11. Retrieved 25 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Retirement of Mr. H. A. Peterson". The Canberra Times. Vol. 27, no. 7, 960. 28 February 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 25 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ Dates for start of term for 1950 to 1993 are from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 1995, Statement of Service: Appointments and Biographies, Canberra.
  13. ^ Minister and Charge d'Affaires.
  14. ^ Beaumont, Joan, "Kevin, John Charles George (1909–1968)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, archived from the original on 22 September 2015
  15. ^ "Mr. C. Kevin for Indonesia". The Canberra Times. ACT. 6 January 1953. p. 2.
  16. ^ Woolcott was Australian ambassador in Jakarta when difficulties over developments in Portuguese Timor, later Timor Leste, came to a head. Extensive information about events during the period is provided in Way, Wendy, ed. (2000), Documents on Australian Foreign Policy: Australia and the Indonesian Incorporation of Portuguese Timor, 1974–1976, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, ISBN 0-522-84928-8
  17. ^ A brief review of Critchley's career as a diplomat, including in Indonesia, can be found at Tony Stephens, 'Supported Asian Independence', The Age, 25 July 2009.
  18. ^ Dalrymple was later posted to Tokyo and Washington as Australian ambassador. He has written about some aspects of Indonesian affairs in Dalrymple, Rawdon (Summer 2000). "Indonesia in the balance". International Journal. 55 (3)., and about wider foreign policy issues in his book, Dalrymple, Rawdon (2003), Continental Drift: Australia's Search for a Regional Identity, Aldershot: Ashgate publishing company.
  19. ^ Taylor died in June 2007. The Australian ambassador to Jakarta at the time, Bill Farmer, paid tribute to Taylor in a media release Death of Ambassador Allan Taylor, AM noting that Taylor had been ambassador "... at a challenging time in the bilateral relationship, when Allan's patience, resilience and commitment were crucial in helping to maintain close ties between our two governments."
  20. ^ Some observations about his time as ambassador in Indonesia by McCarthy are at Suryodiningrat, Meidyatama (8 December 2000). "Ambassador McCarthy ends 'satisfying' four years in RI". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. McCarthy also set out his views on the relationship between Australia and Indonesia in some detail on the ANU East Asia Forum at "Overcoming the Australia-Indonesia cultural divide" on 16 March 2015.
  21. ^ There was initially a slight delay in Jakarta before Ritchie's appointment was approved. This was reportedly because of some concerns in the Indonesian Parliament about the possible approach that Ritchie might take towards Indonesian policy in Papua in responding to problems of regional conflict in the province. See "House approves Australia's new ambassador". The Jakarta Post. 24 January 2003. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014..
  22. ^ A review of some of the key events in Australian-Indonesian relations during Farmer's posting as ambassador is at Khalik, Abdul; Siagian, Sabam (3 July 2010), "Bill Farmer: Career prepared me for Indonesian assignment", The Jakarta Post, archived from the original on 22 December 2014.
  23. ^ Credentials received by President Joko Widodo in late March 2015. His appointment was earlier reported in Ririhena, Yohanna (4 December 2014). "PM Abbott appoints Paul Grigson as new envoy to RI". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. and Bachelard, Michael; Olding, Rachel (2 December 2014). "Paul Grigson appointed ambassador to Indonesia". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 22 February 2015.
  24. ^ On 29 April 2015 the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that Grigson would be recalled to Canberra for consultations following the execution of two Australians in Indonesia who had been convicted of drug smuggling. Grigson returned to his post in Jakarta in early June after being in Canberra for consultations for about six weeks.
  25. ^ In early April 2020, Quinlan temporarily relocated to Australia because of his vulnerability to Covid-19 infections. He was expected to continue to oversee Australian embassy operations in Jakarta from Canberra. See 'DFAT statement on arrangements at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta', 9 April 2020.
  26. ^ Bishop, Julie (27 February 2018). "Ambassador to Indonesia" (Press release). Australian Government.
  27. ^ Dian Septiari, 'Australia's first woman envoy in Jakarta begins term', The Jakarta Post, 2 September 2021. Williams is the first woman to be appointed by the Australian Government as ambassador to Indonesia.
  28. ^ Bishop, Julie (22 March 2016). "Consul-General in Makassar" (Media release). Minister for Foreign Affairs. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  29. ^ Payne, Marise (26 June 2020), 'Consul-General in Makassar' (Media release). Minister for Foreign Affairs. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 26 June 2020.
  30. ^ Bishop, Julie (9 August 2017). "Consul-General in Surabaya" (Media release). Minister for Foreign Affairs. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 12 August 2017.

External links[]

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