Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)

The Department of Trade and Customs and the Department of External Affairs were among the first seven Commonwealth Departments established at Federation. After nearly 90 years they amalgamated in 1987. Up to the Second World War, the Department of Trade - and related agencies such as the Department of Commerce - played a greater role in foreign representation than did the Department of External Affairs. "External Affairs" meant in the first decades of Federation a miscellany of "overseas" functions such as immigration, off-shore fisheries, exploration of Papua New Guinea and Antarctica, and Commonwealth Government publicity. Until the late 1930s, Australia's overseas presence was limited mainly to trade representation and commercial publicity. The 1930s saw an increasingly dangerous economic and political world. Australia realised the need to establish a Trade Commissioner Service (in 1934) and make tentative beginnings towards diplomatic representation abroad. From four overseas missions in 1940, the department manages more than 80 missions today. Additionally the Australian Trade Commission, Austrade, manages 17 consulates and 5 honorary consulates.