The Australian Embassy in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

is located 400 metres southwest of the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

, on Rue Jean Rey in the

15th arrondissement of Paris The 15th arrondissement of Paris () is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ('the fifteenth'). The 15th arrondissement, called , is situated on the Rive ...

, near the Bir-Hakeim bridge on the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

. The embassy is situated on a triangular shaped block, and comprises a pair of nine-storey buildings. The Chancellery Building houses Australia's missions to France, to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

and to the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

, and the apartment of the ambassador to France; the other building contains 34 staff apartments, all with views of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower. The embassy, and several pieces of its original furniture, were designed in a

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

style by Australian architect Harry Seidler, with

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981) was a Hungarian-American modernist architect and furniture designer. He moved to the United States in 1937 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. At the Bauhaus he designed the Was ...

and Pier Luigi Nervi as consulting designers. Like many of Seidler's other works, the embassy was built from precast modularised concrete, with a quartz and granite faced exterior and prestressed precast floors. Its two buildings are curved to form two quarter circles, the two arcs of an S-shaped complex, with the radii of the circles lined up to match the axes of the Eiffel Tower and the

Champ de Mars Champ, CHAMP or The Champ may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Champ (cartoon character), an animated dog introduced in 1960 * The Champ, played on radio and created by Jake Edwards (radio personality), Jake Edwards * Champ ...

.Australian Embassy
on the web site of Harry Seidler & Associates The land for the embassy, that was a part of the disused

railway depot A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...

near the old station of the Champ de Mars, was purchased by the

McMahon McMahon or MacMahon ( or ) may refer to: Places * Division of McMahon, an electorate for the Australian House of Representatives * McMahon, Saskatchewan, a hamlet in Canada * McMahon Line, a boundary between India and China * McMahons Point, a ...

government of Australia in 1972. Construction started on the embassy in 1975, and it was completed in 1977..

History of the Embassy

Australia's diplomatic mission, through the Department of Foreign Affairs ( DFAT), represents the

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the sixth-largest country in ...

on foreign soil. Australia's current number of

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

s is over 100 globally with one crucial one with France, and the Australian embassy in Paris spearheading the diplomatic mission there. There is a mutual bond between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

based on common ideals of

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

, historical contacts, deep economic ties, and a strong interest in each other's culture. The Australian Embassy in

represents Australia's national interest within France and serves to see Australia's diplomatic mission in France. To reinforce Australian, French prosperity and interests, the Australian-French diplomatic relationship cooperates on topics such as culture, economic and political affiliations. A designer named Harry Seidler built the complex as it has begun its bilateral operation in 1977.Macdonald, S. (2007). Harry Seidler and the Legacy of Modern Architecture in Australia. Journal Of Architectural Conservation, 13(2), 101-116. The Australian Embassy in

manages a foundation that is shared between Australia-France facilitating cultural events and exchanges by publishing an annual newsletter called L’Australia en France supporting Australian affairs placed in France. The cultural awards scheme of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also fostered ties between France and Australia. Since 1996, the

International Energy Agency The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization, established in 1974, that provides policy recommendations, analysis and data on the global energy sector. The 31 member countries and 13 associatio ...

has leased space within the embassy buildings for their headquarters.

Architecture & Construction

The embassy's construction started in 1973, was finalised in 1977, and officially opened in 1978. The building was designed by Australian architect Harry Seidler as the main architect, with

and Pier Luigi Nervi. The embassy's architectural floor plans offer an interesting look into Harry Seidler's traditional sense behind the architecture. There is a detailed overview of the office and the residential areas which offer a valid appreciation of his architectural work. Harry Seidler has employed various methodologies to construct his designs and the architectural reports from him provide insight into various design approaches which consist of technology preparation and aesthetic orientation. The embassy's design was formulated from precast modularised combined with a quartz and granite-faced exterior and pressured precast story similar to Seidler's different models. The embassy is located on a triangular-shaped complex and consist of quadrant-structured development on nine floors. The two curved complexes were situated to prevent contact with each other as it was designed to maximise a view of the scenery of the river with the city in the same frame. The buildings together follow the axis of the

. The Chancery's residence in the complex is Australia's missions to

and

and further office rooms are currently rented out in one building with the additional including 34 employees’ apartments.

Ambassadors

The

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 ...

is the representative of the Embassy of the

to the French republic and an official of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The position of the Australian Ambassador to France is currently held by

Gillian Bird Gillian Elizabeth Bird (born in Adelaide) is an Australian civil servant and diplomat who is the current ambassador to Vietnam since 2025. She served as the Australia's Ambassador to France from 2020 to 2024. Bird concurrently served as Austral ...

. In 1945, Australia opened its legation in

, Australia and France commenced their official diplomatic tie. During this time, Keith Officer was appointed as the Ambassador at the legation in April 1950 to take the place of William Hodgson when it had refurbished to embassy status. Making Keith Officer the first Ambassador of Australia to France at the Embassy of Australia in Paris.Watt, A. (1964). Australia and the Ambassadorial Issue. The Australian Quarterly, 36(4), 11-18.

List of all the Ambassadors

References

External links

Embassy website

site plan and images of the building {{DEFAULTSORT:Embassy Of Australia, Paris Buildings and structures in Paris