MAJOR ACTIVITIES

Media Program | Youth and sport | Visual and performing arts and arts heritage | Professions and science and technology | Indonesian language and culture studies | Australian culture and English language studies | Civil Society Program

AUSTRALIAN CULTURE AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

The Institute aims to develop a network of Indonesians who can interpret Australian society and policies for the Indonesian people and government.

Geography textbook The largest Australian Studies project undertaken by the Institute was completed in mid-1999 with the launch of the Australian social geography book, Geografi Australia. The launch marked the culmination of four years of research, writing, production, printing, marketing and distribution to 1000 Indonesian schools. The book was produced in close consultation with the Indonesian Department of Education and Culture to ensure it met curriculum requirements for junior secondary schools. Three hundred Indonesian teacher educators were trained in its use by the Australian consultants, Asian Field Study Centres Pty Ltd of Sydney. The Institute, the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (Off Shore Australian Studies Program), the Northern Territory Government and a former AII Board member, Mr Ian Berckelman AM, Managing Director, Vocational and Technical Training Corporation of Australia Pty Ltd, Sydney, jointly funded the project.

Workshop with Indonesia’s Department of Education and Culture on the Geografi Australia textbook.

Australian Studies Centre, University of Indonesia

The Institute continued its funding of the Australian Studies Centre (ASC) at the University of Indonesia. The centre is a valuable resource for advancing Australian Studies at the University. Ms Reni Winata was appointed as Director of the centre in 1997, and has made a very useful contribution to its operations.

Financial support was provided towards the centre's equipment, operations, its library and to assist with payment for lecture visits by prominent Australian academics. Visiting academic advisers included Professor Veronica Brady from the University of Western Australia, Professor Laurie Clancy from La Trobe University in 1995-96 and Professor Barry Garner from the University of New South Wales in 1998-99. The Visiting Fellows Program facilitated the development of the centre's human resources through training-of-trainers programs on Australian Studies and Media Studies. An outreach program exposed a range of Indonesian public servants to Australian Studies and a program of Indonesia-Australia visits facilitated academic attendance at Australian conferences and seminars and the development of counterpart working relations in a broad range of professional interest areas.

Director of the Australian Studies Centre, University of Indonesia, Ms Reni Winata, greeting Dr Frans Seda at a launch in Jakarta, 17 February 1999.

As well as program funding to the ASC, the Institute funded certain research work and publications under the guidance of and with the cooperation of the ASC. Australia and Indonesia: The First Fifty Years by Richard Chauvel (1997) was an example of this cooperation.

Australian Alumni Association of Indonesia (IKAMA)

IKAMA is a group of young and energetic professionals with a strong interest in Australia. Following an important process of redevelopment of the Australian Alumni Association of Indonesia (IKAMA), the Institute helped fund a database upgrade. In 1998 the Australian Lecture Series was linked with an annual IKAMA dinner.

Australian Lecture Series and Multicultural Lecture Series

Under the Australian Lecture Series and the Australian Multicultural Lecture Series, prominent Australians were invited to present lectures in Indonesia.

1996: Mr Michael Dodson, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, 'Aboriginal Identity and Australian Identity: Imagining Reconciliation', 30 May 1996

1996: Mr Alan Jackson AO, Chairman, Australian Trade Commission, 'Australia and Indonesia: The Role of Trade and Business in Consolidating Our Relationship', 23 September 1996

1997: Professor Andrew Jakubowicz, 'Australia - an End of Innocence? Is Australia a Racist Society: Reflections on Globalisation, Multiculturalism and Pauline Hanson', 12 June 1997

1998: Mr Michael Knight, Minister for the Olympics, 'Sydney 2000 and Sports Development: Sharing the Spirit', 2 July 1998

1998: Justice Elizabeth Evatt AC, 'Vision and Reality: Problems in Building a Human Rights Society', 1 December 1998

Other projects In early 1999 the Institute distributed to academic institutions in Indonesia 50 sets of the three-volume series Australia and Indonesia's Independence, edited for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade by Philip Dorling and David Lee. The three volumes document Australian policy towards Indonesia during the years leading up to 27 December 1949, when the Netherlands transferred sovereignty to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia. They reveal the full extent and depth of Australia's support for the embattled Indonesian Republic, including sponsorship of the Indonesian bid for independence in the UN Security Council.

Mr Alan Jackson AO, Chairman of the Australian Trade Commission, presenting an address at the University of Indonesia on ‘Australia and Indonesia: The Role of Trade and Business in Consolidating Our Relationship’, September 1996.