High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia | |
---|---|
Style | Her Excellency |
Residence | Canberra |
Inaugural holder | Sir Geoffrey Whiskard |
Formation | 1936 |
Website | British High Commission Canberra |
The High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia is an officer of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative to the Commonwealth of Australia. Despite Britain's close relationship with Australia, the first High Commissioner from London was not appointed until 1936, owing to the clarification of Britain's relations with the Imperial Dominions after the Statute of Westminster 1931.
From the beginning of the British colonisation in 1788 and after Australia's federation in 1901, the Governor-General of Australia and the various state governors had been the official representatives of the British government, as well as the Crown. Following the 1926 Imperial Conference and the subsequent Balfour Declaration an Australian, Sir Isaac Isaacs, became Governor-General in January 1931. Being an Australian, it was felt in London he couldn't properly represent the British Government. They thus appointed their Representative for Migration in Melbourne Ernest Tristram Crutchley as their first Representative of His Majesty's Government in Australia, pending the nomination of a High Commissioner, on the Canadian model.
That same year, the Statute of Westminster made easier the creation of such High Commissions in the Dominions but as the Australian Government delayed its ratification, the United Kingdom had to wait until 1936 to appoint a High Commissioner to regularise the role of the Governor-General in Australia, six years before Australia's actual ratification of the Statute.
High commissioner | Start of term | End of term |
---|---|---|
Sir Geoffrey Whiskard, KCB , KCMG | 1936 | 1941 |
Sir Ronald Cross, 1st Baronet, KCMG , KCVO , PC | 1941 | 1945 |
Sir Ted Williams, KCMG , PC | 1946 | 1952 |
Sir Stephen Holmes, KCMG , MC | 1952 | 1956 |
The Lord Carrington, KG , GCMG , CH , MC , PC , DL | 1956 | 1959 |
Lieutenant General Sir William Oliver, GBE , KCB , KCMG | 1959 | 1965 |
Sir Charles Johnston, GCMG , KStJ | 1965 | 1971 |
Sir Morrice James, GCMG , CVO , MBE , PC | 1971 | 1976 |
Sir Donald Tebbit, GCMG | 1976 | 1980 |
Sir John Mason, KCMG | 1980 | 1984 |
Sir John Leahy, KCMG | 1984 | 1988 |
Sir John Coles, GCMG | 1988 | 1991 |
Sir Brian Barder, KCMG | 1991 | 1994 |
Sir Roger Carrick, KCMG , LVO | 1994 | 1997 |
Sir Alex Allan, KCB | 1997 | 1999 |
The Lord Goodlad, KCMG , PC | 1999 | 2005 |
The Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke, PC | 2005 | 2009 |
The Baroness Amos, LG , CH , PC | 2009 | 2010 |
Paul Madden, CMG [1] | 2011 | 2015 |
Menna Rawlings, DCMG [2] | 2015 | 2019 |
Victoria Treadell , CMG , MVO [3] | 2019 |
The Balfour Declaration of 1926, issued by the 1926 Imperial Conference of British Empire leaders in London, was named after Arthur Balfour, who was Lord President of the Council. It declared the United Kingdom and the Dominions to be:
... autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets the basis for the relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown.
Governor-general, or governor general, is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy to represent the monarch of a personal union in any sovereign state over which the monarch does not normally reign in person. Governors-general have also previously been appointed in respect of major colonial states or other territories held by either a monarchy or republic, such as Japan in Korea and France in Indochina.
The Governor-General of the Irish Free State was the official representative of the sovereign of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936. By convention, the office was largely ceremonial. Nonetheless, it was controversial, as many Irish Nationalists regarded the existence of the office as offensive to republican principles and a symbol of continued British involvement in Irish affairs, despite the Governor-General having no connection to the British Government after 1931. For this reason, the office's role was diminished over time by the Irish Government.
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state that has Charles III as its monarch and head of state. Charles succeeded his mother, Elizabeth II, as monarch of the Commonwealth realms immediately upon her death on 8 September 2022. All the realms are equal with and independent of the others, though one person, resident in the United Kingdom, acts as monarch of each.
The Dominion of New Zealand was the historical successor to the Colony of New Zealand. It was a constitutional monarchy with a high level of self-government within the British Empire.
In the British Empire, a self-governing colony was a colony with an elected government in which elected rulers were able to make most decisions without referring to the colonial power with nominal control of the colony. This was in contrast to a Crown colony, in which the British Government ruled and legislated via an appointed Governor, with or without the assistance of an appointed Council. Most self-governing colonies had responsible government.
The state known today as Ireland is the successor state to the Irish Free State, which existed from December 1922 to December 1937. At its foundation, the Irish Free State was, in accordance with its constitution and the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, governed as a constitutional monarchy, in personal union with the monarchy of the United Kingdom and other members of what was then called the British Commonwealth. The monarch as head of state was represented in the Irish Free State by his Governor-General, who performed most of the monarch's duties based on the advice of elected Irish officials.
The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 is an act of the Australian Parliament that formally adopted sections 2–6 of the Statute of Westminster 1931, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enabling the total legislative independence of the various self-governing Dominions of the British Empire. With its enactment, Westminster relinquished nearly all of its authority to legislate for the Dominions, effectively making them de jure sovereign nations.
The monarchy of Australia is Australia's form of government, embodied by the Australian sovereign and head of state. The Australian monarchy is a constitutional one, modelled on the Westminster system of parliamentary government, while incorporating features unique to the constitution of Australia.
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.
Australia is a constitutional monarchy whose Sovereign also serves as Monarch of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and eleven other former dependencies of the United Kingdom including Papua New Guinea, which was formerly a dependency of Australia. These countries operate as independent nations, and are known as Commonwealth realms. The history of the Australian monarchy has involved a shifting relationship with both the monarch and also the British government.
New Zealand–United Kingdom relations are the bilateral relations between New Zealand and the United Kingdom. New Zealand has maintained a close relationship with Britain, since gaining independence from the United Kingdom.
The Constitution of Australia is a constitutional document that is supreme law in Australia. It establishes Australia as a federation under a constitutional monarchy and outlines the structure and powers of the Australian government's three constituent parts, the executive, legislature, and judiciary.
The Constitutional history of Australia is the history of Australia's foundational legal principles. Australia's legal origins as a nation state began in the colonial era, with its legal system reliant initially upon a legal fiction of terra nullius to impose British law upon the colony of New South Wales. As the colonies expanded, Australia gradually began to achieve de facto independence. Over the years as a result the foundations of the Australian legal system gradually began to shift. This culminated in the Australia Act, an act formally ending legal ties with the UK.
A Dominion was any of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. With the evolution of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations, the dominions became independent states.
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. 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.