Carl Bridge

Carl Bridge FRHS is Professor of Australian Studies, King’s College London. He taught in the History departments at Flinders and the University of New England before his appointment to his current position in 1997. He has held visiting fellowships at Churchill College and Clare Hall, Cambridge, the National Library of Australia, and the Australian Prime Ministers Centre, Canberra. His current research falls into four areas: the history of Australian diplomacy and defence; war and society in 20th-century Australia; Australian historiography; and the history of the British world. Among his many publications are as editor of A Delicate Mission: the Wartime Diaries of R.G. Casey 1940–42 (2008) and as co-editor of The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom 1910–2010 (2010).

Australia goes to Washington »

75 years of Australian representation in the United States, 1940–2015

Edited by: David Lowe, David Lee, Carl Bridge

Publication date: December 2016

Since 1940, when an Australian legation was established in Washington DC, Australian governments have expected much from their representatives in the American capital. This book brings together expert analyses of those who have served as heads of mission and of the challenges they have faced. Ranging beyond conventional studies of the Australian–United States relationship, it provides insights into the dynamics between Australian and US policymakers and into the culture of one of Australia’s oldest and most important overseas missions. It provides an appreciation of the importance of the embassy and the head of mission in Washington in mediating the relationship between Australia and the United States and of their role in managing expectations in Canberra and Washington. Australia Goes to Washington also sheds new light on personal trials and achievements at the coalface of Australian–United States relations.

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