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Foreign relations exist between Australia and Sri Lanka. Both Australia and Sri Lanka are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Australia has served as a haven for Sri Lankan migrants, with the 2022 national census reporting that at least 145,430 individuals born in Sri Lanka had migrated to Australia.

History

Pre-19th century

Relations between both nations of Australia and Sri Lanka may have existed before colonialism. The Tamil Bell, discovered in 1836 by missionary William Colenso in New Zealand led to a speculation about a possible Tamil presence in New Zealand and possibly Australia as said by Indologist V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar in his book called The Origin and Spread of the Tamils which states that the Tamil seafarers might have a knowledge of Australia and Polynesia.^[1] It is believed that the Tamils could have reached Australia in the 14th century coming from the areas of present-day India and Sri Lanka.^[2]

19th and early 20th centuries

Both Australia and Sri Lanka were colonies of the British Empire. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many people from Ceylon migrated to Australia which was mainly for labour purposes.

Monthly value of Australian merchandise exports to Sri Lanka (A$ millions) since 1988

Monthly value of Sri Lankan merchandise exports to Australia (A$ millions) since 1988

1948–present

After gaining independence from the United Kingdom, Ceylon opened a High Commission in Canberra in 1949. In 1951 Ceylon's Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake was the first high-profile diplomatic visitor to Australia, which was followed by Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala in 1954. President Junius Richard Jayewardene visited Australia in 1978. In 2011 President Mahinda Rajapaksa participated in the CHOGM summit in Perth, Australia. In 2017 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena made state visits to Australia. Prime Ministers Sir Robert Menzies, Gough Whitlam and Tony Abbott have visited Sri Lanka. In November 2017 PM Malcolm Turnbull visited to Sri Lanka.^[3]

The Australian Government has expressed concern over the conflict between the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil Tigers. In October 2008, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told his Sri Lankan counterpart that military action alone will not solve the dispute with the Tamil separatists.^[4] In May 2009, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said that Sri Lanka should seek a political solution with the Tamils to stop another generation turning to terrorism.^[5]

During Prime Minister Tony Abbott's visit to Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013 meeting, he announced Australia would be donating two navy patrol boats to the Sri Lankan Navy to promote enhanced collaboration on people smuggling.^[6]

2017 marked the 70 Years of relationships between Australia and Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe paid a state visit to Australia to mark the event.^[7]

Diplomatic missions

Australia has a High Commission in Colombo. Sri Lanka has a High Commission in Canberra and Consulate-General in Melbourne which was opened in 2013.

Sporting relations

Sri Lanka and Australia have established a strong sporting relationship, particularly in cricket, which is the most prominent sport linking the two nations. Both countries however, have met in other sports like netball and rugby where these sports are also popular in the respective countries.

The Sri Lanka national cricket team and the Australia national cricket team have played 152 matches against each other in 3 different formats. The first encounter between Australia and Sri Lanka took place on June 11, 1975, during the group stage of the 1975 Cricket World Cup. Australia won this match by 52 runs and progressed to the finals, where they were defeated by the West Indies. On the other hand, Sri Lanka was eliminated in the group stage, having lost all three of their matches. Since then, the teams have been fierce rivals culminating in them facing off in the 1996 Cricket World Cup final where Sri Lanka won in a huge underdog victory. The teams later faced each other again in the Cricket World Cup final, this time during the 2007 edition, in which Australia emerged victorious. While relations between both teams have usually friendly, with players of both teams playing in each other's domestic leagues there have been some notable outliers of sour incidents. The 1995 Muralitharan MCG incident refers to a controversial event that occurred during a Test match between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in December 1995. During the match, Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, known for his unique bowling action, was no-balled multiple times by Australian umpire Darrell Hair for throwing, rather than bowling. This decision sparked significant debate regarding the legality of Muralitharan's bowling style, which involved an unusual wrist and arm motion. The incident led to protests from the Sri Lankan team and ignited discussions about the rules governing bowling actions in cricket. It also highlighted issues of bias and fairness in officiating, particularly against bowlers with unconventional styles. Despite eventually playing in Australia for 2 seasons with the Melbourne Renegades in the T20I Big Bash League, Muralitharan faced a lot of racism in Australia and even claimed criticism from then Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, the latters comments on whether Muralitharan was "chucking" the ball was a huge reason on why the Sri Lanka Cricket voted against Howard's bid for ICC Presidency. In 2022, admist the political and economic meltdown in Sri Lanka, many people came to support and thank the Australian national cricket team for touring the island nation and the crowd was prased by the likes of Glenn Maxwell.

Trade

In 2007 a two-way trade agreement was created between Australia and Sri Lanka valued at $232 million a year. The trade agreement includes exports from Australia such as vegetables and dairy products. Tea and other foods, textiles, clothing, rubber, iron and steel which are the main imports from Sri Lanka.

Aid

In 2008-09 the estimated budget for aid to Sri Lanka is $27 million.^[8] In April 2009, the Australian Government announced a further A$4.5 million of humanitarian aid to assist the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka. $1.5 million will be given to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration.^[9]