List of ambassadors of Australia to East Timor

The Australian Ambassador to Timor-Leste is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Embassy of the Commonwealth of Australia to Timor-Leste. The position has the rank and status of an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and the embassy in Dili has been operating since 1999 when a consulate was established in the Indonesian Province of Timor Timur and upgraded in May 2002.[1]

Australian Ambassador to Timor-Leste
Incumbent
Peter Roberts OAM

since 4 January 2018
StyleHis Excellency
ResidenceDili
Inaugural holderJames Batley
Formation8 June 1999 (Consulate)
30 May 2002 (Embassy)
WebsiteAustralian Embassy in Timor-Leste

Posting history

Representation in Portuguese Timor

The Australian diplomatic presence in East Timor dates back to 13 April 1941, when Group Captain David Ross, was officially appointed as a Technical Representative of the Australian Department of Civil Aviation in Dili, the capital of Portuguese Timor, officially tasked with managing the Qantas Empire Airways Flying boat route to Dili, which had been established in January 1941. Ross had also been secretly tasked by the Australian Government from 5 November 1941 to act as Australia's representative in the colony to report on any matters relating to the political situation there. At the instigation of Herbert Evatt, Minister for External Affairs, Ross was also serving as the British Consul in Dili and was later arrested when Japanese forces invaded the colony in February 1942.[2] The establishment of a consulate with Ross as its head had been mooted prior to the Japanese invasion.[3]

With the end of the war and the return of Portuguese authority to Timor, the Australian Government established a consulate in Dili, commencing operations on 1 January 1946 with the appointment of Charles Eaton as consul.[4] Australia had been approached by the Portuguese Government of António de Oliveira Salazar to accept the establishment of an embassy in Canberra, but this was not approved, with Australia citing that it was unable to reciprocate owing to a lack of resources, instead suggesting an Australian consulate in Dili, which was agreed to.[5] Prior to the establishment of an Australian Embassy in Portugal in 1970, the consulate dealt with various matters relating to Australia's relations with Portugal. Following the establishment of the embassy in Lisbon, the consulate became much less important and on 3 May 1971, the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, Reginald Swartz, announced the consulate's closure, which took effect on 31 August 1971.[2]

In August 1975, the Foreign Affairs Caucus Committee of the Australian Labor Party visited Timor and produced a report noting that Governor Mário Lemos Pires had made several requests for the consulate to be reopened: "We asked for a consul in November [1974] and have asked about ten times since. Mr Taylor of the Australian Embassy [in Jakarta] was asked last week. [Australian Ambassador] Mr Woolcott was asked this week. We have asked Lisbon and I believe Dr Matias, Portuguese Ambassador in Canberra, has, or will be, asking again in Australia." Governor Pires also noted to the committee that these requests were made in order to make Australia more able to engage with the increasingly unstable situation in the colony prior to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor: "At present Australia cannot compensate for Indonesian propaganda or understand the day-to-day happenings in the colony."[6]

Indonesian Timor and independence

Graffiti on the outside wall of the Australian Embassy in Dili

In early April 1999 Prime Minister John Howard and Indonesian President B. J. Habibie met in Bali to discuss matters relating to the unrest in the Province of Timor, which had Indonesian-occupied since Timor's brief independence from Portugal in 1975. Howard initially requested Habibie to agree to a peacekeeping force in the province, which was refused, but Habibie agreed to allowing the establishment of an Australian Consulate in Dili.[7] On 4 June 1999 Foreign Minister Alexander Downer announced the appointment of James Batley as consul in Dili, noting that the consulate "will allow us to service the consular needs of the increasing number of Australians in East Timor, and will facilitate Australia’s considerable support to the United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor."[8] However, with the establishment of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) on 25 October 1999, Batley's role was to changed to be Australia's Head of Mission to the UNTAET and following independence was appointed as Australia's first ambassador on 20 May 2002, the first foreign diplomatic appointment to the new Republic of Timor-Leste.[9]

Office-holders

Consuls, 1946–1971

NameStart of termEnd of termReferences
Charles Eaton1 January 194618 October 1947[10]
Doug White18 October 194724 June 1950[10]
Post vacant
N. Elliot (Vice Consul)7 January 195126 February 1952[10]
Post vacant
Francis Whittaker4 November 195327 November 1959[10]
W.A. Luscombe27 November 195924 January 1962[10]
James Dunn24 January 196212 August 1964[10]
D.W. Milton (Acting Consul)12 August 196416 December 1965[10]
John Colquhoun-Denvers16 December 196527 November 1968[10]
Max Berman27 November 196820 January 1970[10]
G.W. Shannon20 January 197014 January 1971[10]
D.W. Milton14 January 197131 August 1971[10]

Consul/Head of Mission

NameStart of termEnd of termReferences
James Batley8 June 199920 May 2002[8]

Ambassadors

NameStart of termEnd of termReferences
James Batley20 May 200230 May 2002[11]
Paul Foley30 May 20027 April 2004[1]
Margaret Twomey7 April 20042008[12]
Peter Heyward20082011[13]
Miles Armitage20112014[14][15]
Peter Doyle12 February 20144 January 2018[16][17]
Peter Roberts OAM4 January 2018date[18]

References

  1. Downer, Alexander (30 May 2002). "Diplomatic Appointment: Ambassador to East Timor" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014.
  2. 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
  3. "REPRESENTATION IN TIMOR". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 25 November 1941. p. 8. Retrieved 25 June 2016 via National Library of Australia.
  4. "CONSUL IN TIMOR". Tweed Daily. XXXIII (23). New South Wales, Australia. 26 January 1946. p. 3. Retrieved 25 June 2016 via National Library of Australia.
  5. NAA: A1838, 377/1/1 Part 4.
  6. Mário Lemos Pires quoted in Scott, David, 'Last Flight Out of Dili: Memoirs of an Accidental Activist in the Triumph of East Timor', Melbourne: Pluto Press, 2005, p.305.
  7. Cotton, James (2004). East Timor, Australia and Regional Order: Intervention and Its Aftermath in Southeast Asia. Routledge. p. 119.
  8. Downer, Alexander (4 June 1999). "Diplomatic Appointment: Consul in Dili" (Press release). Australian Government.
  9. AAP (20 May 2002). "Downer announces new ambassador to East Timor". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  10. Latham, Mark; Downer, Alexander (30 March 1999). "Questions: Australian Consulate, Dili: Closure" (Hansard). House of Representatives. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  11. Downer, Alexander (20 May 2002). "Diplomatic Appointment: First Ambassador to East Timor" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014.
  12. Downer, Alexander (7 April 2004). "Diplomatic Appointment: Ambassador to East Timor" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014.
  13. Downer, Alexander (4 October 2007). "Diplomatic Appointment - Ambassador to East Timor" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  14. Rudd, Kevin (17 November 2010). "Diplomatic Appointment - Ambassador to East Timor" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  15. Dodd, Mark (18 November 2010). "Miles Armitage new Australian ambassador to East Timor". The Australian. News Ltd.
  16. Bishop, Julie (12 February 2014). "Ambassador To Timor-Leste" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 2 August 2014.
  17. "Tough times for new East Timor ambassador". News.com.au. News Ltd. 12 February 2014. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014.
  18. Bishop, Julie (4 January 2018). "Ambassador To Timor-Leste" (Press release). Australian Government.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.