Around 100 guests packed the Wheeler Centre on Little Lonsdale Street on Thursday evening for the launch of Australian Ambassador, the memoir of Jenny Bloomfield, Australia’s former Ambassador to Greece, a night that drew diplomats, writers and three former Victorian political leaders to celebrate a story that begins with a 12-year-old girl from Thessaloniki and ends in the rarefied halls of Australian diplomacy.
Former Premier Ted Baillieu launched the book, with contributions from Bloomfield herself and from Bruce Atkinson, who spent 30 years in Victoria’s Legislative Council, eight as its President. Also among the guests were former Labor Premier John Brumby and former Speaker of the House Ken Smith.
Baillieu: “Has there been a more Australian 15-year experience?”
Ted Baillieu, the 46th Premier of Victoria, delivered the launch address, and he described the 12-year-old who “mastered English,” “flourished” at school in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, “embraced AFL and cricket,” and became a devoted reader of English literature, “all while being taught Greek on Saturdays.”
(L-R) Bruce Atkinson, former President of the Legislative Council; Ken Smith, former Speaker of the House; John Brumby, former Premier of Victoria; Jenny Bloomfield, author; and Ted Baillieu, former Premier of Victoria, at the launch of Bloomfield’s book, Australian Ambassador at the Wheeler Centre. Photo: Supplied
He charted the 15 years that followed: citizenship, first-class honours at Melbourne University, a Master of Law, and a place in DFAT’s graduate program which he called “Australia’s diplomatic diving board.” She married fellow graduate James, and the couple accepted their first posting together after a crash course in Farsi.
“Jenny Bloomfield became Australia’s first female diplomat, a third secretary in Tehran, aged around 27, with four languages under her belt. Has there been a more Australian fifteen-year experience?”, Baillieu said.
Around 100 guests attended the launch of Jenny Bloomfield’s “Australian Ambassador” at the Wheeler Centre, SLV, Melbourne last Thursday evening. Photo: Supplied
Postings in Argentina, Japan, Greece and Taiwan followed, during which the couple had three more children, and Bloomfield added four more languages, on top of Greek, English, Farsi and French. She concluded her diplomatic career in Melbourne after James died of illness, going on to lead DFAT Victoria, turning it, Baillieu said, into “a powerhouse of outreach.”
L-R: Patrick Gibbons, Then Hon. Ted Bailleu and Hon. Bruce Atkinson. Photo: Supplied
The former premier also placed her story within a longer tradition of migrant contribution to Victoria, citing Lowe Kong Meng and Louis Ah Mouy, two Chinese merchants who arrived in the 1850s and became Foundation Trustees of the Commercial Bank of Australia, later Westpac. “Most Australians don’t know their story,” he said.
An unprecedented duality
Baillieu reflected on the unusual nature of Bloomfield’s 2011 appointment as Ambassador to Greece, the country of her birth, which he said was an “unprecedented duality which saw the Greek parliament specifically authorising Jenny to serve as Australian Ambassador, even though she held Greek citizenship as well.”
Tammy Iliou, policy strategist; and recipient of Victorian Government medal with book in hand. Photo: Supplied
He closed by urging the book to become required reading, calling it “a powerful reminder that in Australia, anything really is possible. Jenny’s contribution really is a quintessential Australian story.”
Bloomfield: “Being Australian is not about where we begin, but where we belong”
Taking the stage, Bloomfield spoke about the weight of her appointment, saying it showed what Australia can make possible: “a migrant child could one day represent this nation in the country where she was born.” She
reflected on her posting during the Greek debt crisis, “Australia stood by Greece then, sharing practical expertise and deepening cooperation. Knowing both countries helped me to find common ground and strengthen the relationship at a critical time.”
She went on to explore what it means to be Australian and said that many generations of migrant
Australians have shown that being Australian is not about where we begin, but where we belong,”. She added that multiculturalism “offers us something even greater: the belief that we can come from different places and still share the same future.”
Jenny Bloomfield surrounded by friends and peers. Photo: Supplied
On reconciling her two, the former ambassador said belonging to both nations was a strength: “Belonging is not about leaving behind who we are. It is about embracing the life we have built here, while honouring the heritage that shaped us.”
And on the nation’s character, she said that “Australia does not grow stronger by closing in on itself. It grows stronger through good government, generous leadership, and confidence in who we are”. This subtle yet powerful caution against rising populism ran through several speeches that evening.
Atkinson: “The Keys to the Parliament”
Bruce Atkinson closed proceedings with an emotional tribute, calling Bloomfield a trailblazer: “Jenny has set some very significant footprints for others to follow.” He recalled the rare trust extended to her in Victoria: “We had such confidence… that we actually gave her the keys to the Parliament.
She was the first diplomat, heading a mission here in Melbourne, who was actually given a pass that she could use to get into the Parliament without worrying about security.”
Her impact, he said, went beyond that of any diplomat he had worked with, “because of that
experience that she had of two countries of Greece with her heritage, but Australia, of her home.”
The evening closed with conversation and refreshments, and many guests leaving with a copy of what is, without doubt, a watershed memoir, the story of a 12-year-old girl from Thessaloniki who became a vital bridge between Greece and Australia in a time of need.
Australian Ambassador is out now on Black Inc.