Major Michael Stone was an officer in the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

notably involved with its operations in

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

. He graduated at the rank of lieutenant from the

Royal Military College, Duntroon lit: Learning promotes strength , established = , type = Military college , chancellor = , head_label = Commandant , head = Brigadier Ana Duncan , principal = , city = Campbell , state = ...

in 1999 after gaining a Bachelor of Arts (Management and Geography) from the

Australian Defence Force Academy The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military Academy that provides military and academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and Royal Aus ...

.UNSW@ADFA Weekly News
(accessed:13-08-2007) It was then that his relationship with East Timor was initiated with a posting to East Timor as a platoon commander
(accessed:13-08-2007) as part of the

INTERFET The International Force East Timor (INTERFET) was a multinational non-United Nations peacemaking task force, organised and led by Australia in accordance with United Nations resolutions to address the humanitarian and security crisis that took ...

deployment, the Australian-led response to the 1999 crisis. He acted as the "fix it" man in East Timor; a negotiator between warring factions; an interpreter; a liaison man for the community; and a facilitator of peace. In 2007 a documentary titled
The Peacemaker
' as part of the ABC show ''

Australian Story ''Australian Story'' is a national weekly current affairs and documentary style television series which is broadcast on ABC Television. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs Department. The program first aired on 29 ...

'', he was featured and showed his role in East Timor as a negotiator, interpreter, community liaison and the local face of the ADF. He appeared in ''

Balibo Balibo is a town in East Timor situated approximately from the Indonesian border. It is located in the subdistrict of Balibo, Bobonaro District. It was estimated by Human Rights Watch that 70 per cent of the town was destroyed during th ...

'' released in 2009, set in East Timor as a character interviewing locals about the Indonesian invasion (which commenced on December 6, 1975) and its subsequent occupation of East Timor. He serves as Program Director for the Timor Awakening program, taking former Australian military and

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...

members back to Timor and helping them to rediscover themselves after their service, through the history and struggle of

Timor Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-wester ...

and also the Australian element history to present day.

References

External links

The Peacemaker on the Australian Story website

Friends and Partners of East Timor

HIAM Health

"Balibo" the Movie (IMDb)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Michael Australian Army officers Graduates of the Australian Defence Force Academy Royal Military College, Duntroon graduates Living people Year of birth missing (living people)