Australia |
Zimbabwe |
---|
Australian-Zimbabwean relations are foreign relations between Australia and Zimbabwe. Both countries have full embassy level diplomatic relations[1]. Australia currently manintains an embassy in Harare[2] and Zimbabwe maintains an embassy in Canberra[3].
History
The nations of Australia and Zimbabwe both have their origins in British colonies established as a part of the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, while Australia experienced much white settlement from Britain and Ireland, eventually becoming a settler-dominated colony, the lands which made up Zimbabwe (known then as Rhodesia) experienced less white settlement, retaining a native Bantu majority. Despite this majority, the colony of Rhodesia broke away from the United Kingdom in 1965, with the minority white government of Ian Smith issuing a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, while Australia became established as a stable parliamentary democracy.
During the 1979 Commonwealth Conference, Australian Prime Minsiter Malcolm Fraser was instrumental in convincing the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to withhold British recognition of the Smith-led government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, prompting Britain to host the Lancaster House Agreement at which full independence and majority rule for Zimbabwe was agreed upon[4]. At the independence celebrations in Harare in 1980, Fraser's contribution to Zimbabwean independence was firmly acknowledged[5].
See Also
References
- ^ "Zimbabwe - Country Brief". Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ "Australian Embassy, Zimbabwe". Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ "Zimbabwe Details". Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ Downer, Alexander. "Human Rights in Australian Foreign Policy". Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ "Meet a PM - Fraser". Retrieved 2008-05-09.