British High Commission Canberra | |
---|---|
Location | Yarralumla, Canberra |
Address | 130 Commonwealth Avenue, Yarralumla, Canberra |
Coordinates | 35°18′05″S149°07′30″E / 35.3013°S 149.1250°E |
High Commissioner | HE Vicki Treadell CMG , British High Commissioner |
Website | Official website |
The British High Commission Canberra is the diplomatic mission of the Government of the United Kingdom to Australia, representing the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom's interests. [1] It is located on Commonwealth Avenue along with the High Commissions of New Zealand and Canada in the Canberra suburb of Yarralumla. The current British High Commissioner is Vicki Treadell who was appointed in 2019.
Prior to the establishment the post of the British High Commissioner to [the Commonwealth of] Australia in 1936, the Governor-General of Australia acted and served as both the chief official intergovernmental representative of the British Government to the Government of Australia, as well as the personal official representative of the Crown, acting in his or her capacity as Australia's head of state. The appointment of a separate High Commissioner followed a series of changes in the relationships amongst the dominions and with the Crown, including the enactment of the Statute of Westminster 1931.
In the early years, the British High Commissioners rented buildings for themselves as their residence as well as the buildings for the British High Commission offices. The British High Commission Chancery building was built in 1952 at the same time as Westminster House, the High Commissioner's official residence at 76 Empire Circuit, Deakin. The northern wing extension to the High Commission was completed in 1960. The chancery and residence cost a quarter of a million pounds – an enormous amount in those days. The British High Commission building may seem comparatively modest when compared with some of the more lavish Embassy buildings in Canberra. However, at the time it was built, Britain was recovering from the devastating economic burden of World War II and needed to restore its own bomb-ravaged cities. [2]
In late 1995 through until early 1997, the High Commission underwent a major refurbishment programme. A well-known local firm, Mitchell/Guirgola & Thorp Architects, was engaged to undertake the design work associated with the refurbishment work. The architects previously won the competition to design the New Parliament House in Canberra. Although the interior of the building was almost entirely refurbished, the building's white rendered walls and regular window spacing were retained.
The High Commissioner's tasks are to present British policies to the Australian Government and to Australians, to report and explain Australian policies and views to the British Government in London, and to promote British interests. The High Commissioner coordinates the political, commercial and public affairs activities of the British Government in Australia and is in daily contact with Australian Ministers and officials.
Apart from the British High Commission Canberra, there are British Consulates-General in Sydney and Melbourne headed by British Consuls-General. There are also British Consulates in Perth and Brisbane headed by British Consuls. The duties of the British Consuls-General and the British Consuls relate to the promotion of trade and investment between Britain and Australia. They also keep the British High Commissioner in touch with political, economic and other developments in the Australian States and Territories. In addition, the British Consulates-General (but not the smaller British Consulates) provide consular assistance to British citizens and British nationals who live in, or are visiting, places which fall within their respective consular districts. [3]
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 an embassy or high commission, which is the main office of a country's diplomatic representatives to another country; it is usually, but not necessarily, based in the receiving state's capital city. Consulates, on the other hand, are smaller diplomatic missions that are normally located in major cities of the receiving state. As well as being a diplomatic mission to the country in which it is situated, an embassy may also be a nonresident permanent mission to one or more other countries.
Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings at state dinners, the person to whom diplomatic credentials should be presented, and the title by which the diplomat should be addressed.
The British Embassy, Washington D.C. is the British sovereign's diplomatic mission to the United States of America, representing the interests of the United Kingdom and British Government. It is located at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. The embassy compound includes the chancery offices, as well as the British Ambassador's residence.
A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries.
A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country, usually an embassy. The term "consulate" may refer not only to the office of a consul, but also to the building occupied by the consul and the consul's staff. The consulate may share premises with the embassy itself.
The Embassy of Finland to the Commonwealth of Australia is Finland's diplomatic mission in Canberra, Australia. The mission is also accredited to New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. As it is the only Finnish Embassy in the Southern Pacific region (Oceania), in practice the embassy also represents Finland in its relations with other Pacific island states in the region.
The British Consulate General Hong Kong (BCGHK), located at 1 Supreme Court Road, Admiralty, Hong Kong Island, is one of the largest British consulates general in the world and is bigger than many British embassies and high commissions. It is responsible for maintaining British ties with Hong Kong and Macau.
There are 123 diplomatic missions in Hong Kong, of which 62 are consulates-general and 61 are consulates and six officially recognised bodies in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong has the status of a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, some consuls-general in Hong Kong report directly to their respective foreign ministries, rather than to their Embassies in Beijing.
In the Commonwealth of Nations, a high commissioner is the senior diplomat, generally ranking as an ambassador, in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another. Instead of an embassy, the diplomatic mission is generally called a high commission.
The High Commission of Canada in Australia is the diplomatic mission of Canada to Australia. It is located on Commonwealth Avenue, near State Circle, in the Australian capital city of Canberra. In addition to responsibility for bilateral relations between Canada and Australia, it is also responsible for relations with several Pacific Island nations, including the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
The High Commission of Barbados in London is the diplomatic mission of Barbados in the United Kingdom. Among the initial diplomatic missions to be established by Barbados after the attainment of independence from Britain, the office was initially located at 28 Cockspur Street where it shared a joint mission with Guyana. In the early 1970s the mission relocated to 6 Upper Belgrave Street, London. Barbados' High Commission remained at that location until the mid 1980s when it moved to its present location at the corner of 1 Great Russell Street in London's Bloomsbury neighbourhood.
The Australian Consulate-General in Hong Kong and Macao represents the Commonwealth of Australia in Hong Kong, and is also accredited to Macau. As Hong Kong was linked to the Commonwealth during British administration, Australia's diplomatic presence was exercised by an Australian Commission, until 1 January 1986, when it was renamed the Australian Consulate-General. From 1946 to 1972, Australia was represented by the Australian Trade Commission.
The Australian Consulate-General in Shanghai represents the Commonwealth of Australia in Shanghai, the most populous city and a global financial centre in the People's Republic of China. The Consulate-General, one of many in Shanghai, has its offices in the CITIC Square building, 1168 Nanjing Road West.
The Embassy of the Philippines in Canberra is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Commonwealth of Australia. It is currently located at 1 Moonah Place in the Yarralumla suburb of south Canberra, just beyond the periphery of Parliament House.