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 Charles Edward Critchley 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 Herbert Anton Peterson, 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 Allied Forces, Netherlands East Indies (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]
^Schevdin, Boris (2008). Emissaries of trade : a history of the Australian Trade Commissioner Service. Barton, ACT: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. p. 47.
^"TRADE WITH THE EAST". Barrier Miner. Vol. XLVI, , no. 13, 861. New South Wales, Australia. 21 December 1933. p. 5 (HOME EDITION). Retrieved 4 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
^"TRADE". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 399. New South Wales, Australia. 8 June 1935. p. 19. Retrieved 4 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"COMMISSIONERS". The Canberra Times. Vol. 12, , no. 3215. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 January 1938. p. 1. Retrieved 25 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
^ abcMetcalf, 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
^"Trade Commissioner For Netherlands India". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 15 January 1938. p. 11 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved 25 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Retirement of Mr. H. A. Peterson". The Canberra Times. Vol. 27, , no. 7, 960. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 28 February 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 25 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
^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, ISBN0 522 84928 8
^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.
^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.
^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."
^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..
^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.
^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.
^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.
