About the High Commission building

The New Zealand High Commission Chancery

The New Zealand High Commissioner is responsible for the conduct of New Zealand Government business in Australia. The first New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia, Carl Berenson, was appointed in 1943, when the first New Zealand government office was opened in Canberra. Initially, the staff operated out of the former Hotel Canberra, before moving to accommodation in the Patents Office. In 1963 the High Commission moved to the MLC Building in Civic, remaining there until the opening of the new Chancery on Commonwealth Avenue in November 1973.