The first known hominid inhabitant of Indonesia was the so-called "s", or Homo erectus, who lived here half a million years ago. Some 60,000 years ago, the ancestors of the present-day Papuans move eastward through these islands, eventually reaching New Guinea and Australia some 30-40,000 years ago. Much later, in about the fourth millennium B.C., they were followed by the ancestors of the modern-day Malays, Javanese and other Malayo-Polynesian groups who now make up the bulk of Indonesia's population. Trade contracts with India, China and the mainland of Southeast Asia brought outside cultural and religious influences to Indonesia. One of the first Indianized empires, known to us now as Sriwijaya, was located on the coast of Sumatra around the strategic straits of Malacca, serving as the hub of a trading network that reached to many parts of the archipelago more than a thousand years ago.

On neighboring Java, large kingdoms of the interior of the island erected scores of exquisite of religious monuments, such as Borobudur, the largest Buddhist monument in the world. The last and most powerful of these early Hindu-Javanese kingdoms, the 14th century Majapahit Empire, once controlled and influenced much of what is now known as Indonesia, maintaining contacts with trading outposts as far away as the west coast of Papua New Guinea.

Indian Muslim traders began spreading Islam in Indonesia in the eighth and ninth centuries. By the time Marco Polo visited North Sumatra at the end of the 13th century, the first Islamic states were already established there. Soon afterwards, rulers on Java's north coast adopted the new creed and conquered the Hindu-based Majapahit Empire in the Javanese hinterland. The faith gradually spread throughout archipelago, and Indonesia is today the world's largest Islamic nation.

Indonesia's abundant spices first brought Portuguese merchants to the key trading port of Malacca in 1511. Prized for their flavor, spices such as cloves, nutmeg and mace were also believed to cure everything from the plague to venereal disease, and were literally worth their weight in gold. The Dutch eventually wrested control of the spice trade from Portuguese, and the tenacious Dutch East India Company (known by initials VOC) established a spice monopoly which lasted well into the 18th century. During the 19th century, the Dutch began sugar and coffee cultivation on Java, which was soon providing three-fourths of the world supply of coffee.

By the turn of the 20th century, nationalist stirring, brought about by nearly three centuries of oppressive colonial rule, began to challenge the Dutch presence in Indonesia. A four-year guerilla war led by nationalists against the Dutch on Java after World War II, along with successful diplomatic maneuverings abroad, helped bring about independence. The Republic of Indonesia, officially proclaimed on August 17th, 1945, gained sovereignty four years later.

During the first two decades of independence, the republic was dominated by the charismatic figure of Sukarno, one of the early nationalists who had been imprisoned by the Dutch. General (ret.) Soeharto eased Sukarno from power in 1967. Indonesia's economy was sustained throughout the 1970's, almost exclusively by oil export. The Asian financial crisis, which broke out in mid-1997, paralyzed the Indonesian economy with the rupiah losing 80% of its value against the US dollar at the peak of the turmoil. On May 21, 1998, Soeharto resigned after 32 years in power and was replaced by B.J. Habibie following bloody violence and riots. Indonesia held its first democratic election in October 1999, which put Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid in the role of president.

The Republic of Indonesia first saw light on 17 August 1945, just days after the Japanese surrender to the Allies at the end of the war in the Pacific, when the Indonesian nationalist leaders, Sukarno and Dr Mohammad Hatta, proclaimed the country's independence on behalf of the Indonesian people after nearly 350 years of Dutch colonial rule and a further four years of Japanese occupation. However, following the Japanese surrender, the Dutch were hell-bent on regaining control of the territory and between 1945 and 1949 the infant republic was faced with military threats to its very existence as a nation. During this difficult period, of all the Western countries, Australia had been the most sympathetic to the Republic's independence cause and, in time, the Australian Government itself came to the view - that was not shared by the Dutch and the British - that not only was it entitled to pursue economic relations with Indonesia but that it would accept its representatives, for the time-being on an "informal" basis.

Accordingly, in June 1947, Indonesia sent its first representative, Dr Usman Sastroamidjojo, of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, to Australia as the "chief of the diplomatic and consular service for the Indonesian Republic". He was accepted on "an ongoing basis" and had frequent discussions with Australian leaders, most importantly, of course, on Australia's continued support for Indonesia's status as an internationally recognised sovereign state. On September 28, 1950, the Republic of Indonesia was admitted as a member of the United Nations. Dr Usman returned to Indonesia in 1951 with his mission accomplished.

Based initially in Melbourne, Dr Usman and his small staff moved to Canberra in 1949. From then on, the Embassy occupied several temporary locations in Canberra, firstly at the Hotel Canberra (now the Hyatt Hotel), and then in the Canberra suburb of Deakin, before moving, in August 1971, to its permanent home in Yarralumla.

H.E. Mr Raden Hidayat, Ambassador (1968-70), laid the foundation stone for the new Indonesian chancery in Yarralumla on 15 January 1970 and, upon completion, was "handed over" by the architect, Mr George Holland, to the new Indonesian Ambassador, H.E. Mr Sujitno Sukirno (1970-73) on 13 August 1971. Originally, the complex was comprised of two buildings, a chancery and a special pavilion, known as "Wisma Wisata Budaya", to be used to display Indonesian arts and crafts and for entertaining.

As already noted, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, General Suharto, officially opened the Indonesian chancery on the afternoon of 7 February 1972 during the course of a four-day State visit, which was, incidentally, the first visit to Australia by an Indonesian Head of State. The President was accompanied by Mrs Suharto, Mr Adam Malik (Minister for Foreign Affairs), Professor Widjojo Nitisastro (Minister for National Development) and Major-General Umar Wirahadikusumah (Army Chief of Staff).

The main office block was constructed just like any other Indonesian government building of that period. However, the exhibition or display hall (built in the style of a Javanese pendopo and containing a selection of traditional Indonesian arts and crafts and musical instruments) and the series of hand-carved Balinese statues beside the steps and around the terrace, to the left of the main building, are a unique expression of Indonesian culture and to the present day make a distinct contribution to Canberra's tourism objects.