The Embassy of Australia in Jakarta ( Indonesian: ''Kedutaan Besar Australia di Jakarta'') is the diplomatic mission of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country b ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, located within the Golden Triangle.

History

The first formal representation of Australia in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

was founded on Batavia by 1935 in form of a trade commissioner based on the Kali Besar West road. While Australia did not maintain many official representations before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, by 1945 it had opened multiple embassies in various countries. Following the

proclamation of Indonesian Independence The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence ( id, Proklamasi Kemerdekaan Indonesia, or simply ''Proklamasi'') was read at 10:00 on Friday, 17 August 1945 in Jakarta. The declaration marked the start of the diplomatic and armed resistance of th ...

, Australia was dissuaded by Britain from establishing a consulate-general and instead sent a representative to military forces there. In 1946, F.K. Officer was assigned as the representative to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

, and was partially tasked with aiding negotiations. After several more representative replacements, in late November 1946 allied forces (AFNEI) left the area and the post of Consul-General was established on 5 December 1946. By 1950 the office was elevated to that of an

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

, with John Hood becoming the first person to hold that post.

Bombing

In 2004,

Jemaah Islamiyah Jemaah Islamiyah ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية, ''al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmiyyah'', meaning "Islamic Congregation", frequently abbreviated JI) is a Southeast Asian militant extremist Islamist terrorist group based in Indonesia, which i ...

launched a

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

attack on the embassy, killing at least 9 people and injuring over 170. While several other embassies in the area were also damaged with some diplomats injured, all fatalities were Indonesian nationals. The perpetrators were later arrested and was sentenced to death in 2005. Following the attack, talks on a more secure facility commenced and after a decade the embassy moved to its current building in 2016, occupying over 50,000

square meter The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter ( American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a square ...

s and costing $415 million. Located immediately next to the

British Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Com ...

, it is both Australia's biggest and most costly embassy as of its completion.

References

{{Australia–Indonesia relations Australia–Indonesia relations Diplomatic missions in Indonesia

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

History

Bombing

See also

References