The high commissioner of Australia to Nauru is an officer of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian federal government responsible for foreign policy and relations, international aid (using the branding Australian Aid), consular services and trade and inv ...

and the head of the High Commission of the Commonwealth of Australia in

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

. The position has the rank and status of an

ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary 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 sov ...

and is currently by Helen Cheney since September 2021. Australia is one of only two countries to have a resident diplomatic mission in Nauru, the other being the embassy of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Posting history

With the end of the Australian

trusteeship Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

administration and the formal independence of Nauru on 31 January 1968, the Australian Government appointed a Representative to the small island nation. With the establishment of a resident Australian High Commission on Nauru's admission to the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

in 1972, the position also had responsibility as the Commissioner for the

Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...

(1972–1976) and the

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

(1976–1979), and then as the non-resident accredited high commissioner to

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

from 1979. In 1981, The Australian Government announced that it would open a resident High Commission in Kiribati, which was achieved in August 1982. In January 1975, Alan Fogg was appointed Commissioner in Nauru, and also as non-resident commissioner to the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. With the independence of the Solomon Islands in 1978, the resident Australian High Commission was established on 7 July 1978. In December 1981, career diplomat Rodney Hodgson was announced as the next high commissioner to Nauru. However a few weeks later he was killed in a car accident, before he could take up his appointment. When the new Commonwealth government of Prime Minister

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

cut the budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1996–97, forcing the closure of the High Commission in Nauru, in July 1997, accreditation for Nauru was transferred to the high commission in Suva, Fiji. From 1997 to 2009, the position of high commissioner was held by the high commissioner resident in Fiji. A Consulate-General in Nauru was opened in 2002, which was subsequently upgraded to a High Commission on 4 August 2009.

Heads of mission

Notes

: Also non-resident Commissioner to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (1972–1976), Commissioner to the Gilbert Islands (1976–1979), and as High Commissioner to Kiribati (1979–1982). : Also non-resident Commissioner to the Solomon Islands, 1975–1978. : Prior to appointment as High Commissioner, served as resident Special Representative and Consul-General from 11 October 2005 until 2 August 2009.

References

External links

Australian High Commission, Republic of Nauru
{{Lists of heads of Australian diplomatic missions

Australia and the Commonwealth of Nations Nauru and the Commonwealth of Nations