List of ambassadors of Australia to China

The ambassador of Australia to China 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 People's Republic of China (PRC). The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and has lived in Beijing since 1973.^[1] The incumbent ambassador is Graham Fletcher who took up the appointment in July 2019. The ambassador's work is assisted by multiple consulates throughout the country that have visiting and reporting responsibilities, as well as handling consular and trade matters for the embassy.

Ambassador of Australia to China
Incumbent Scott Dewar since 29 September 2023
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Style	His Excellency
Reports to	Minister for Foreign Affairs
Residence	Beijing
Nominator	Prime Minister of Australia
Appointer	Governor General of Australia
Inaugural holder	Frederic Eggleston
Formation	28 October 1941
Website	Australian Embassy, China

Posting history

Australia's first diplomatic representative in China was Vivian Gordon Bowden, who in 1935 was appointed as a trade commissioner based in Shanghai.^[2] The establishment of trade commissions in several Asian countries was an initiative of the Lyons government first announced in 1933, where previously Australian interests had been represented by the United Kingdom.^[3] Bowden's office was based in the HSBC Building within the Shanghai International Settlement.^[4] Bowden served until 1941 when he was transferred to Singapore, with the trade commission taken over by the new formal legation in Chongqing.^[5]

Australia's legation was first accredited to the Republic of China and was located in Chongqing from 1941 to 1946, with the first Minister, Sir Frederic Eggleston, presenting his credentials to President Lin Sen on 30 October 1941. The legation later moved to Nanjing from June 1946 to 1949, initially located at 34 Peiping Road and then 26 Yihe Road.^[6] Following the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Australian Government recalled its Ambassador from China to discuss recognition of the Communist Government.^[7] The Government of the Republic of China, having retreated to Taipei, Taiwan, maintained its embassy in Australia until December 1972. In 1966 Australia opened an embassy in Taipei.^[8] In 1972, diplomatic relations ceased following the decision of the government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to recognise the People's Republic of China, and the Taipei Embassy closed in 1973.^[9] As a result of Australia's recognition of the PRC in 1973, Australia has no diplomatic representation in Taiwan and continues economic, trade and cultural relations through the Australian Office in Taipei.

After diplomatic recognition of the PRC in 1972, Australia established an embassy in Beijing in 1973,^[10] followed by Consulates-General in Shanghai (1984), Guangzhou (1992),^[11] and Chengdu (2013). The latter was opened following release of the Asian Century White Paper by the Gillard government, and calls for an expanded diplomatic footprint in China.^[12] On 9 November 2014 the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, formally opened the Australian Consulate-General in Chengdu.^[13] In March 2017, an agreement was signed to establish a fifth Australian Consulate-General in 2018, to be located in the northern city of Shenyang.^[14] From 1991 to 2008, the ambassador to China was also accredited to Mongolia.

List of officeholders

Building of the former Australian Legation in Chongqing, 1941–1946.

Heads of Mission

Republic of China, 1941–1949

#	Name	Office	Term start date	Term end date	Time in office	Notes
1	Frederic Eggleston	Minister	28 October 1941 (1941-10-28)	25 February 1944 (1944-02-25)	2 years, 120 days	[15]
–	Keith Officer	Chargé d'affaires	25 February 1944 (1944-02-25)	15 October 1945 (1945-10-15)	1 year, 232 days
2	Douglas Copland	Minister	1 January 1946 (1946-01-01)	7 June 1948 (1948-06-07)	2 years, 158 days
–	Osmond Charles Fuhrman	Chargé d'affaires	7 June 1948 (1948-06-07)	14 November 1948 (1948-11-14)	160 days
3	Keith Officer	Ambassador	15 November 1948 (1948-11-15)	17 October 1949 (1949-10-17)	336 days	[7][16]
Relations suspended

Republic of China, 1966–1973

#	Name	Office	Term start date	Term end date	Time in office	Notes
–	Walter Handmer	Chargé d'affaires	1966	1966	0 years	[17]
4	Frank Bell Cooper	Ambassador	1966	1969	2–3 years	[18]
5	Hugh Dunn		1969	1972	2–3 years	[19][20]
–	Tony Godfrey-Smith	Chargé d'affaires	1972	1973	0–1 years	[20]
For Australian ambassadors after 1973 see the list of representatives of the Australian Office in Taipei

People's Republic of China, 1973–present

#	Name	Office	Other offices	Term start date	Term end date	Time in office	Notes
1	Stephen FitzGerald	Ambassador		1973	1976	2–3 years	[10]
2	Garry Woodard			1976	1980	3–4 years	[21]
3	Hugh Dunn			1980	1984	3–4 years	[22]
4	Dennis Argall			1984	1985	0–1 years	[23]
5	Ross Garnaut			1985	1988	2–3 years
6	David Sadleir			1988	1991	2–3 years
7	Michael Lightowler		A	1991	1996	4–5 years	[24]
8	Ric Smith		A	1996	2000	3–4 years	[25]
9	David Irvine		A	2000	2003	2–3 years	[26]
10	Alan Thomas		A	2003	2007	3–4 years	[27]
11	Geoff Raby		A	2007	2011	3–4 years	[28]
12	Frances Adamson			2011	2015	3–4 years	[29]
13	Jan Adams AO, PSM			February 2016 (2016-02)	July 2019 (2019-07)	3 years, 5 months	[30]
14	Graham Fletcher			28 August 2019 (2019-08-28)	incumbent	5 years, 308 days	[31][32][33][34]

Scott Dewar is the current Ambassador to the PRC https://china.embassy.gov.au/bjng/Ambassador.html

Notes

^A Also non-resident Australian Ambassador to Mongolia, 1991 to 2008.

Deputy Heads of Mission

Name	Start of term	End of term	References
Colin S. Heseltine	1982	1985	[35]
David Ambrose	1985	1988	[36]
Colin S. Heseltine	1988	1992	[35]
Sam Gerovich	1992	1997	[37]
Penny Richards	1997	2000	[38]
Lydia Morton	2000	2003	[39]
Graham Fletcher	2003	2008	[40][32]
Graeme Meehan	2008	2012	[41]
Justin Hayhurst	2012	November 2016	[42][43]
Gerald Thomson	November 2016	December 2019	[43]
Jason Robertson	January 2020	present	[44]

Consuls-General

Location	Open	Consular district
Consulate-General, Hong Kong	1972	Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR
Consulate-General, Shanghai	1984	Shanghai Municipality, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang
Consulate-General, Guangzhou	1992	Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Hunan, Guangxi Zhuang AR
Consulate-General, Chengdu	2013	Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Municipality of Chongqing
Consulate-General, Shenyang	2019	Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang

Chengdu

Name	Start of term	End of term	References
Nancy Gordon	30 May 2013	7 November 2016	[12]
Christopher Lim	7 November 2016	4 May 2021	[45]
Adelle Neary	4 May 2021	present	[46]

Guangzhou

Name	Start of term	End of term	References
Maurine Chong	November 1992	31 May 1996	[47]
Zena Armstrong	31 May 1996	28 September 1999	[48]
John Courtney	28 September 1999	11 September 2003	[49]
Kevin Magee	11 September 2003	25 October 2006	[50]
Sean Kelly	26 January 2007	20 November 2009	[51][52]
Grant Dooley	20 November 2009	25 June 2012	[53]
Jill Collins	25 June 2012	11 February 2014	[54]
Dominic Trindade	11 February 2014	5 January 2018	[55]
Jason Robertson	5 January 2018	20 November 2022	[56]
Anthony Aspden	20 November 2022	present	[57]

Shenyang

Name	Start of term	End of term	References
Broughton Robertson	2 March 2019	present	[58]

See also

• List of ambassadors of China to Australia