Our History

The New South Wales Branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, which originated in 1924, was the first branch of the British Institute of International Affairs, as it was then called, to be formed outside Great Britain. That a Branch was formed so early in Sydney was largely, if not wholly due to the enthusiasm of one man, Professor A,H. Charteris, Challis Professor of international Law and Jurisprudence at the University of Sydney and a very early member of the parent Institute in London. He gathered together the five other members of the BIIA then living in Sydney to form the nucleus of the Branch, who drew in others with similar interests. In the parochial-minded Sydney of 1924 their numbers were few but Professor Charteris, by his lectures to his students and his radio broadcasts, was helping to awaken interest in international affairs.

Before coming to Australia Professor Charteris has lectured in law at the University of Glasgow and during World War I had worked in the Admiralty in London in the intelligence service. He took up his professorship in Sydney in 1921. The Annual Report of the Branch after his death in 1940 states: Through the breadth of his studies, his gifts of lively and witty exposition, and his untiring enthusiasm for, and unceasing curiosity about, everything which concerned the relations of peoples, he did more than any one else to create interest in international affairs in Australia and to inform the public about them.

It is not surprising that such a man should be able to prevail upon the other five to establish their own Branch of the BIIA; they were T.R. (later Sir Thomas) Bavin; Commander R.C. Garsia; J.B. (later Sir John) Latham; H.S. (later Mr. Justice) Nicholas; and A.M. Pooley.

J.G. Latham had been a member of the British Empire Secretariat at the Congress of Paris at the end of the war It was at this Congress that the BIIA had its origins in the informal, off duty discussions at meals and other gatherings of those attending; they wanted to form an organization in which such unofficial exchanges of information and opinion could continue. Latham was one of the three British representatives who, with thee American representatives, formed a steering committee to formulate the scheme which, with modifications, was ultimately to form the basis of the BIIA. It had its inaugural meeting in London in July 1920. Latham and two other Australians, Sir Robert Garran and F.W. (later Sir Frederick) Eggleston, who had also been at the Congress of Paris, all became foundation members.

In December 1924 a bank account in the name of the British Institute of International Affairs, Australian Branch, was opened at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the address given as 167 Phillip Street, Sydney. The first Honorary Secretary and Treasurer was F.R. Beasley who, after serving in the AIF 1915-191, had graduated in 1924 from the Sydney University Law School with first class Honours and the University Medal.

At Chatham House, the headquarters of the Institute in London, the news of the formation of the Sydney Branch and its affiliation with the BIIA was received with great satisfaction and it was hoped that other Dominions would follow suit; Victoria and Canada were soon to do so. The BIIA became the Royal Institute of International Affairs in 1926 when it was granted a Royal Charter.