Australia House in London, officially opened in 1918 by King George V, was built to be the pride of the Commonwealth in London, to ‘raise the thought and touch the heart’ of all who saw it. Today, it is a Grade II listed building, and still a prominent landmark on the Strand, one of the busiest parts of the city. How did it end up there? What visions of the British Empire and of London itself was it intended to realise? And what is its significance as heritage, and as both a site and a symbol of relations between Britain and Australia? From the point of view of public diplomacy, is it still capable of ‘Telling Australia’s Story to the World’? 

This panel brings together Eileen Chanin, the author of a recent major study of the making of Australia House; Michael L’Estrange, a former Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom; and Nicholas Brown, a historian of Australia’s changing place in the world, to discuss the past, present and future of Australia House.

Speakers and Panelists

Eileen Channing
Author of Capital Designs: Australia House and Visions of an Imperial London (2018). Research Associate at the Australian Studies Institute (ANU), and recent Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Menzies Institute for Australian Studies, King’s College London
(2016-2017), where she was also Menzies Foundation Fellow
(2015) and Rydon Fellow (2014). 

Michael L'Estrange AO
Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (2000-2005), Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2005- 2009), the inaugural Executive Director of the National Security College at the Australian National University (2009-2014), and presently on the board of Rio Tinto and Qantas, and the Deputy Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame Australia.

Nicholas Brown
Professor of History and formerly Head, School of History, The Australian National University. Prior to his current position Professor Brown worked in the Australian Public Service and with the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ANU) and the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia.