Indonesian News

Latest news and information about upcoming events will be placed here as it becomes available.

In 1958 the first classes on Indonesian language and culture were taught by Dr Frits van Naerssen, who had arrived from the Netherlands at the end of the previous year to take up his duties as Senior Lecturer in Indonesian and Malayan Studies. Van Naerssen went on to become the first Professor, and led the Department in its hey-day of the 1960s, when a new generation of Australians was discovering Asia and the focus of world politics was on the region. Graduates of the Department have gone on to become distinguished academics not only in Australia, but also at institutions such as Princeton and Leiden Universities, and to become leading Australian writers, diplomats, school teachers, aid workers, journalists and internationally-successful business figures. Through collaborative programs such as that with Satya Wacana University in Java, the University has reached out to the wider community, the Department always emphasising strong collaboration between Indonesian and Australian academics, producing Indonesian PhD graduates in areas as diverse as architecture, politics and literary studies.

To celebrate this unique anniversary we will be holding an Alumni Reunion on 15 August 2008. Those interested in attending should contact Adrian Vickers at

Honours student Ele Williams was interviewed for Indonesian national television while on the Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program in early 2008.

Third year Indonesian language students discuss religion, politics and the media with members of Indonesia's National Press Council.

Ben Davis (top right) was one of five young Australian scholars selected for the Australia-Indonesia Governance Research Partnership (AIGRP) young scholars workshop in Jakarta on 3 December 2007. Michele Ford (bottom left) was on hand to help the young scholars prepare their presentations.