100 Years of Australian High Commissioners in the United Kingdom
London
Speech, (Check Against Delivery)
18 February 2010
Your Majesty. Your Royal Highness. Foreign Secretary.
Ambassadors. High Commissioners. Excellencies. Distinguished guests. Ladies and gentlemen.
I am of course delighted to be here for the centenary celebrations of the posting of the first Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
To commemorate this centenary, we are mounting a small exhibition and have produced an impressive historical publication entitled, The High Commissioners: Australia's Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010.
The book, which it is my pleasure to launch tonight, has been prepared jointly by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies at King's College, London.
Both the exhibition and book highlight the vital role Australian High Commissioners have played in advancing Australia's national interests and fostering Australian-United Kingdom relations.
The High Commissioners' story actually began in 1909, when the Australian Parliament passed legislation empowering the Governor-General to appoint "a High Commissioner of the Commonwealth in the United Kingdom."
A year later, in 1910, Sir George Reid, a former Prime Minister, became Australia's first High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Sir George was a pioneer - his responsibilities defined as much, if not more, by history as by legislation. Although a Department of External Affairs had been established in 1901, Australia still lacked a foreign service in the modern sense during Sir George's tenure.
In creating the new office of High Commissioner, Australia was establishing its first overseas post to represent Australian interests. It was therefore not only a milestone in the Australia-United Kingdom relationship, but an important first step in Australia's diplomatic history.
Over the past one hundred years, as the relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom has matured, High Commissioners' responsibilities have evolved to meet the challenges of the times.
One constant amidst this change has been the high calibre of the High Commissioners themselves, present company of course included.
Those who have held this office have consistently demonstrated courage and vision, leaving a legacy Australians can be proud of.
They have negotiated loans to develop the Australian economy.
They have served as an important conduit between our governments, in peace and in war, including the fighting of two World Wars.
They have helped oversee large-scale immigration programs, the foundation of the modern Australia.
Of course, in between demanding policy and representational work they have found time to watch a lot of really good cricket, the balance of which has usually and correctly favoured Australia.
As modern nations, Australia and the United Kingdom share more than history. We look at the world in the same way. We have made sacrifices to defend the values, virtues and characteristics that we believe in and which make us who we are.
For 100 years, Australia's High Commissioners and their dedicated staff have been part of that story –observing it, participating in it, shaping it.
Their contributions form part of the fabric of our contemporary relationship. We thank them and those who worked with them for their service.
This service has been carried out here, Australia House, now the longest, continuous diplomatic site in the United Kingdom. An iconic Australian site, one very familiar to all Australians who spend time in Britain. Indeed, in my own case there was a time in my own life when literally every day I walked past it.
Let me again thank Your Majesty and Your Royal Highness for graciously agreeing to help us celebrate this important centenary.
As the sovereign of both peoples and both nations, your presence is a testament to the warmth, the affection, the respect and the regard that we have for each other, and to the enduring strength of the Australia-United Kingdom relationship.
I have pleasure in declaring the exhibition open and the book launched.
I now ask my colleague and my good friend Foreign Secretary David Miliband to make some remarks.
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