Australia and Indonesia have established diplomatic relations since 1949, when Australia recognised Indonesia's independence. Historically, contact between Australians and Indonesians began as early as the 16th century prior to the arrival of the Europeans, through Makassan interactions with indigenous Australians on Australia's western and northern coasts.
The relationship has been characterised by growing mutual trade of A$17.8 billion in 2018–19, an increase of 6.9% over the previous year, in addition to close links in government, education, and defence under the Lombok Treaty. Both nations are members of the G20, ASEAN Regional Forum, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the ASEAN Free Trade Area, the Indonesia–Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), among other organisations.
Relations between the two countries are generally well, though there have been some strained periods since 1949, most notably the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation (where Australia sided with Malaysia), the East Timor crisis in 1999 (in which Australia plays a significant role), the issues of West Papua, asylum seekers, and the disclosure of Australia's wiretapping on some Indonesian officials in 2013. Cooperation between the two has strengthened each other in various fields, including the economy. Both are committed to an open economy by increasing trade and investment cooperation embodied in the IA-CEPA (which was ratified in February 2020 and took effect on 5 July 2020).
In February 2020, both countries celebrated 70 years of diplomatic relations during Indonesian President Joko Widodo's visit to the Australian Parliament in Canberra.
History
Pre-European settlement
While some evidence suggests that sporadic contact between the peoples of the Indonesian archipelago and Indigenous Australians occurred as early as 16th or 17th century, it was only with the commencement of the trepang trade in the 1750s that significant relations were first developed. The trepangers departed from eastern Indonesian ports, predominantly Makassar and Kupang, and on arrival in Australia constructed shelters along with outdoor factories to process the trepang for trade with China. While they did not establish permanent settlements in Australia, there was some intermarriage with Indigenous Australians and their decedents remain in northern communities to the present day.
At the height of the trade, the trepangers visited thousands of kilometres of Australian coastline, arriving with the monsoon season each December. Their boats (perahu), carried up to 30 crew members and it is estimated that as many as 1,000 trepangers arrived each year. The crews established temporary settlements at various points along the coast to boil and dry the trepang before returning home to sell their cargo. Marege, meaning 'wild country' was their name for Arnhem Land, from the Cobourg Peninsula to Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, while the north west coast was referred to as Kayu Jawa.
Using Daeng Rangka, the last Makassan trepanger to visit Australia, lived well into the 20th century, and first made the voyage to northern Australia as a young man. He recalled generally positive but occasionally conflicting relationships with Indigenous Australians, and was the first trepanger to pay the South Australian government trepanging licence in 1883, an impost that made the trade less viable. The trade continued to dwindle toward the end of the 19th century due to the imposition of customs duties and licence fees. This decline was probably compounded by overfishing. Using Daeng Rangka commanded the last perahu, which left Arnhem Land in 1907.
There is significant evidence of contact with the trepangers in the rock art and bark painting of northern Australia, with the perahu featuring prominently in many locations. Studies by anthropologists have also found traditions that indicate the trepangers negotiated for the right to fish certain waters. The exchange involved the trade of cloth, tobacco, metal axes and knives, rice and gin. The Yolngu of Arnhem land also traded turtle-shell, pearls and cypress pine, and some were employed as trepangers.