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Reinforcing 74 years of Australia and Sri Lanka diplomacy  By Arundathie Abeysinghe   Australia and Sri Lanka have a robust and enduring bilateral relationship of 74 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations in May 1947. The Asia Pacific Nation and South Asian Island have close foreign relations from May 1947 to date.  In 1946, the Federal Minister for External Affairs, Commerce and Agriculture recommended to the Australian Parliament that Australia should be represented by a Commissioner in *Ceylon, as there was a likelihood of Ceylon being granted independence after India. Thus, in 1947, Mr. Charles William Frost, a Tasmanian ex-Labor Member of Parliament was posted as Australia’s first Commissioner to Ceylon.  Sri Lanka also set up a High Commission in Canberra, Australia and Mr. J.A. Martensz, an appointed Member of the First Parliament of Ceylon assumed duties as the first High Commissioner of Ceylon in Canberra, Australia. With the ...