From Federation in 1901, the new Commonwealth government arranged to have all federal matters and communications handled by state's Agents-General in London. Prior to federation, each of the Australian colonies were represented through the Agents-General, the oldest being South Australia from 1856. From 1905 the Agents-General formed a committee to jointly deal with Australian matters but on 20 February 1906, the Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin, announced the establishment of a dedicated Australian office in London, with the Secretary of the Department of Defence, Muirhead Collins, as the new office head. Although some Agents-General have since been abolished, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia continue to be represented by Agents-General. The High Commission of Australia in London is Australia's oldest diplomatic posting, and was created through the passage of the High Commissioner Act 1909 on 13 December 1909, which established the role as appointed by the Governor-General and defined that they would "act as representative and resident agent of the Commonwealth in the United Kingdom, and in that capacity exercise such powers and perform such duties as are conferred upon and assigned to him by the Governor-General carry out such instructions as he receives from the Minister respecting the commercial, financial, and general interests of the Commonwealth and the States in the United Kingdom and elsewhere." With the appointment of Reid as High Commissioner, Collins continued to serve as Official Secretary to the High Commissioner until his retirement in 1917. On 24 July 1913, King George V laid the foundation stone of Australia House, the future site of the Australia mission, which he also officially opened five years later on 3 August 1918. The High Commissioner Act was amended several times and was repealed by the High Commission Act Repeal Act 1973 when Foreign Minister Don Willesee placed the High Commission under the terms of the Public Service Act like all other diplomatic posts. The repeal of the act signified the change in status of the High Commission to one of equality with all other bilateral posts, as Australia's relationship with the United Kingdom had changed. Four of Australia's early prime ministers served terms as High Commissioner after leaving office: Reid, Fisher, Cook and Bruce. The position had also been filled by five people who had also served as the Australian opposition leaders with Reid, Fisher, Cook, H.V. Evatt and Alexander Downer. Until 1973, every High Commissioner was a former government minister. Since then, a number of senior career diplomats have held the post, although former politicians are still regularly appointed. From 1975 to 2001, the work of the High Commission was assisted by the Australian Consulate in Manchester. Established on 1 August 1975, the consulate largely dealt with trade and migration matters.
