Style His Excellency | Formation 6 August 1940 | |
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Appointer Governor General of Australia Inaugural holder Bertram Ballard (Official Representative) Website Australian Consulate-General Noumea, New Caledonia - French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna | ||
The Australian Consulate-General in Noumea, New Caledonia represents the Commonwealth of Australia in New Caledonia, a special collectivity of France, and is also accredited to the Pacific French Overseas collectivities, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna. The Consul-General also serves as Australia’s representative to the Noumea-based Secretariat of the Pacific Community. The Consulate-General, one of four in New Caledonia (alongside New Zealand, Indonesia and Vanuatu), has its offices at 19 avenue du Maréchal Foch, Noumea.
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The Australian Consulate-General in Noumea reports directly to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, Australia, just as the Australian embassies and high commissions around the world and is Australia's fourth-oldest diplomatic posting (after London, 1910, Ottawa, 1939 and Washington, 1940), having been established on 6 August 1940, when Bertram Ballard was posted to Noumea. The 6 August 2015 was celebrated as the consulate's 75th anniversary.
Consulate history
First established on 6 August 1940 with the appointment of Bertram Ballard as Official Representative of the Commonwealth Government in Noumea, Ballard's responsibilities included the "full power and authority on behalf of the Commonwealth Government to conduct discussions and/or to agree and conclude with the administration of New Caledonia any matters or agreements that may tend to the attainment of co-operation in 'the struggle against the Berlin-Rome Axis at the side of Great Britain' and to sign for an on behalf of the Commonwealth Government everything so agreed upon and concluded". However, the time of Ballard's appointment meant that the real reason for his appointment was to report to Canberra the situation inside the French colony, including the political sympathies of the colonial administration. The administration in Noumea at the time was decidedly pro-Vichy French, but the Australian Government continued to be hesitant in encouraging a takeover of the colony or encouraging Free French elements in the colony.
However, Ballard's report of 8 September 1940 noted that the provisional Governor, Colonel Denis, was not likely to be accommodating to a settlement in any case and that the people of the colony would "welcome and follow" a Governor appointed by De Gaulle, spurred the Australian Government, led by Minister for External Affairs, John McEwen, into action. This action culminated in the sending of HMAS Adelaide to escort Free French Governor-designate Henri Sautot to Noumea, bringing the colony to Free France on 19 September.
1987 recall incident
In January 1987, the French Government declared the serving Australian Consul-General, John Dauth, as "persona non grata", prompting his recall from the posting. The reasoning the French Government (represented by Minister for Overseas Departments and Territories, Bernard Pons) gave for Dauth's recall was that he "had provided aid to extremist members of the pro-independence FLNKS group which had links with Libya", an accusation that was firmly repudiated by Foreign Minister Bill Hayden, who called in the French representative in Canberra to register an official protest.
Hayden had noted that "Mr Dauth has done no more than the Australian Government expects of any government official representing its interests overseas" and it was reported that his recall had been motivated by a recent breakdown in Australia–France relations, particularly over the future of New Caledonia. On 5 January France had suspended ministerial contacts with Australia because of their support for efforts at the United Nations to have New Caledonia put back on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories (it had been removed from the list in 1947) and added to the Decolonisation List, which were successful in a resolution of the UN General Assembly of 2 December 1986. France's actions to expel Dauth and its reasoning for doing so were also criticised by the governments of Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu's Prime Minister, Walter Lini, who noted that "the French Government's reaction after its defeat on the United Nations vote ... could be said to be undiplomatic, childish, naive and reactionary".