Ambassador of Australia to France | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade | |
Style | Her Excellency |
Reports to | Minister for Foreign Affairs |
Nominator | Prime Minister of Australia |
Appointer | Governor General of Australia |
Inaugural holder | Colonel William Hodgson OBE |
Formation | 11 March 1945 |
Website | Australian Embassy, France |
The ambassador of Australia to France is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Embassy of the Commonwealth of Australia to the French Republic. The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and holds non-resident accreditation for Algeria, Mauritania (since 2001), [1] Monaco. From April 1976 to March 1991 there was a resident ambassador in Algeria and has since been held by the ambassador, excepting a period from 1999–2002 when it was held by the ambassador in Cairo. [2] From October 1972 – August 1975, October 1976 – August 1978, January 1988 – September 1990, and March 1994 – September 1996 the Ambassador served as Permanent Delegate of Australia to UNESCO, a role that is now held by the Deputy Head of Mission. The Deputy Head also serves as the non-resident accredited Ambassador to Chad. From 1978 to 2017, the ambassador had responsibility for relations with Morocco until the establishment of a resident embassy in Rabat. [3]
Gillian Bird PSM was appointed ambassador in November 2020. France and Australia have had official diplomatic relations since Australia opened its Legation in Paris in 1945. [4] The Legation was upgraded to Embassy status in 1948, when Colonel William Hodgson, who served as Minister to France, was appointed as Ambassador. [5]
The first official representative of Australia in France was Clive H. Voss, who was appointed as a commercial agent in Paris in 1919. His appointment was made on the personal initiative of Prime Minister Billy Hughes, in line with his attempts to establish a system of trade commissioners. [6] Voss established an office in the premises of the British Chamber of Commerce in Paris and was subordinate to the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. [7] Despite criticism of his effectiveness, he remained in the position until the Fall of France in 1940 and "helped establish the idea of a distinct Australian official representation in France as a norm". [8]
![]() |
Ordinal | Officeholder | Title | Other offices | Term start date | Term end date | Time in office | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Colonel William Hodgson OBE | Minister to France | 11 March 1945 | 1948 | 4 years, 7 months | [9] [10] [11] | |
Ambassador of Australia to France | 1948 | November 1949 | |||||
2 | Sir Keith Officer OBE , MC | Ambassador of Australia to France | 18 April 1950 | 1955 | 4–5 years | [12] | |
3 | Alfred Stirling CBE | 1955 | 1959 | 3–4 years | [13] | ||
4 | Sir Edward Ronald Walker CBE | 1969 | 1968 | 8–9 years | |||
5 | Alan Renouf OBE | C | 1969 | 1973 | 3–4 years | [14] | |
6 | Harold David Anderson | C | 1973 | 1978 | 4–5 years | [15] | |
7 | John Rowland AO | E | 1978 | 1982 | 3–4 years | [16] | |
8 | Peter Curtis | E | 1982 | 1987 | 4–5 years | [17] | |
9 | Ted Pocock AM | C E | 1987 | 1991 | 3–4 years | ||
10 | Clive Jones | A E | 1991 | 1993 | 1–2 years | [18] | |
11 | Alan Brown | A C E | 1993 | 1996 | 2–3 years | ||
12 | John Spender KC | A E | 1996 | 2000 | 3–4 years | [19] | |
13 | Bill Fisher | B E | 2000 | 2005 | 4–5 years | [20] | |
14 | Penny Wensley AO | B D E | 2005 | 2008 | 2–3 years | [21] | |
15 | David Ritchie AO | B D | 2008 | 2011 | 2–3 years | [22] | |
16 | Ric Wells | B D | 2011 | 2014 | 2–3 years | [23] | |
17 | Stephen Brady AO , CVO | A B D | 31 March 2014 | 21 July 2017 | 3 years, 112 days | [24] | |
18 | Brendan Berne | A B D | 21 July 2017 | October 2020 | 3 years, 2 months | [25] | |
19 | Gillian Bird PSM | A B D | 5 November 2020 | incumbent | 3 years, 211 days | [26] [27] |
Diplomatic relations between Australia and Morocco were established in 1976. Morocco has had an embassy in Canberra since 2004 and the Australian Embassy in Rabat was established in May 2017, upgrading the existing Austrade office in Rabat. Previously the Australian Embassy in Paris was accredited to Morocco since 1978.