Australia Embassy

Wherever in the world any Australian can be, there is surely an embassy to give him urgent and necessary assistance when needed. There are over 80 Australian embassies scattered strategically across Europe, North America, Asia, South America, Africa and Oceania.

In general, an embassy is a representation of a government in another country. For example, the Australian government has a permanent diplomatic mission with different countries. This mission is called a chancery, which is headed by an ambassador.

Technically, an embassy refers to the ambassadorial residence in a specific country, but in the current setup, most ambassadors just hold formal offices at the place. The ambassador is no less than a representative of a country’s head of state or president to another country.

Usually, embassies of different nations are located at the capital city of a country. However, in case a country’s representation in another is not having an address in a capital city, the place is no longer called an embassy but as consulate, which is spearheaded by a consulate-general. Australia embassy on the United States is of course located at Washington DC. However, there are consulates at Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, Chicago and New York. On the other hand, diplomatic missions between Commonwealth nations are called High Commissions. Australia has High Commissions in Valetta, Malta; London, United Kingdom; Ottawa, Canada and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Simply put, Australia embassies, consulates and High Commissions are diplomatic missions that represent Commonwealth of Australia in offshore nations.

Such offices are basically maintained by the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. As mentioned, there are more than 80 diplomatic missions overseas. In the recent years, Australia has pulled out missions in Prague, Cape Town, Houston, Caracas, Bridgetown and Damascus.  To further provide and extend needed services to Australian citizens globally, the country has entered into an agreement with the Canadian government in providing consular services to each country’s citizens offshore. This way, Canadians could secure and get consular services from any of 21 Australian consulate offices worldwide. In turn, Australians could seek assistance from any 19 Canadian consulates worldwide Australia also has an almost similar agreement with the United Kingdom’s consular offices.
How were Australian embassies established? In 1939, the country had two officers for external affairs posted in London (in an office now called the Australia House) and in Washington (where the office was attached to Britain’s own embassy). World War II prompted embassies to boost cooperation with other countries not covered by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In 1940, two offices were added, this time in Tokyo, Japan and in Ottawa, Canada. Amid the world war, Australian diplomatic missions were founded in Moscow, Chongqing and Noumea. From there, Australian embassies further grew and now cover numerous countries, cities and other independent territories worldwide.