In 2007, Russia and Australia celebrate the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the first contacts between the two countries. In June, 1807. Sydney-the center of New South Wales, the first English colony on the Australian mainland, was visited by the ship of the Russian-American company Neva under the command of Lieutenant L. A. Gagemeister. The commander and crew were warmly received by representatives of the British colonial administration and white settlers. From now on, visits to Australia by ships from Russia-participants in circumnavigation of the world, military transports, ships chartered by a Russian-American company to deliver cargo to Russian America, and later by warships of the Russian Pacific squadron-will become quite frequent. During the 19th and early 20th centuries. Australia was visited by 32 Russian ships. Such major naval commanders as Admirals F. F. Bellingshausen, M. P. Lazarev (visited Australia three times), his brother N. P. Lazarev, M. N. Vasiliev, G. S. Shishmarev, E. A. Behrens, P. S. Nakhimov, V. S. Zavoiko, P. M. Novosilsky visited the Fifth Continent at different stages of their career, A. A. Popov, F. K. Avelan, A. B. Aslanbegov and others. Scientists and naturalists I. M. Simonov and P. V. Tarkhanov, artists P. N. Mikhailov and E. M. Korneev took part in the expeditions. The outstanding Russian traveler, scientist and humanist N. N. Miklukho-Maklay spent a number of years in Australia and made his contribution to the formation of Australian science [for more information, see: Massov, 1995; Massov, 1998 (1)].

For a long time, visits to Australia by ships of the Russian Fleet remained almost the only channel of communication between Russians and Australians. However, by the end of the 19th century, contacts between Russia and English migrant colonies were expanding. The rapid development of Australia during this period, the success of the gold mining and food industries lead to the beginning of establishing ties in the scientific and scientific-technical fields, and the first steps are being taken in the development of trade. The rapidly growing population of migrant colonies is now replenished with immigrants from the Russian Empire. Already in 1863, the midshipman of the Russian corvette Bogatyr P. S. Mukhanov noted that" in Melbourne it is difficult to walk down the street without meeting someone who speaks Russian", and pointed out that there are" quite a lot " of Poles, Germans and Jews from the western Russian provinces in the city [Mukhanov, l. 63]. The need to protect the trade interests of Russian scientists, engineers and travelers in Australia, as well as emigrants from Russia, led to the creation of a Russian consular service in the Australian resettlement colonies. The decision to create such a service was made in 1856, and at the beginning of 1857. The first consular representatives were appointed to Melbourne and Sydney [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 137, l. 1-2ob., 7-7ob.]. They were Australian merchants: in Melbourne, the interests of Russia were represented by J. R. R. Tolkien. Damion, Sydney -

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E. M. Pol. From 1857 to 1875, both of them were non-staff vice-consuls, and from 1875-non-staff consuls of Russia, respectively, in Victoria and New South Wales [AVPRI, f. 256, op. 555a, d.1445, l. 307, 309, 313, 314]. The non-regular consuls of Russia in Melbourne and Sydney were quite successful in protecting the interests of Russian citizens and providing assistance to the commanders of ships of the Russian Navy in organizing repairs and supplies of ships during their stay in the ports of the Fifth Continent.

By the end of the 19th century, Russia was noticeably interested in the development of the domestic political situation in Australia, in particular in military construction and the rapid growth of federalist aspirations, which had as their ultimate goal the creation of a single Australian state with fully formed foreign policy priorities. The Australians also worked hard to establish their own colonial sphere of influence in the South Pacific. Under pressure from the Australian settlement colonies, England annexed the Fiji Islands in 1874, and in 1884-1885 forced the colonial division of the eastern part of the island of New Guinea with Germany. Australia's colonial ambitions, coupled with efforts to create an Australian army and navy, significantly changed the balance of power in the Pacific in favor of the British Empire. All this required special attention in the context of the growing rivalry of the great powers in the Pacific basin and the growing importance of this region for Russian diplomacy as a whole. Detailed and accurate information about the prospects and progress of the creation of the Australian Federation was required. However, the non-standard status of Russian diplomatic missions representatives in Melbourne and Sydney made it difficult to solve political tasks, especially information gathering. In addition, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not trust foreign citizens (such as non-regular consuls) any serious assignments that have a political connotation. That is why in 1894 the Russian non-staff consulate in Melbourne was transformed into a full-time one, and it was now headed by professional diplomats-employees of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The scope of their interests was by no means limited to the execution of consular assignments only. The tasks of the new mission could be quite equated with the duties of the Russian consul in another English colony, which had already become a dominion by that time - Canada. Here is how the scope of his tasks was defined in the instructions of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "This consular agent has two kinds of duties: on the one hand, he is a consul in the strict sense of the word.. on the other hand, he has to perform the duties of a political agent, keeping a sharp eye on all changes that may occur in the attitude of the Canadian government towards the mother country... so it follows the mood of the country itself " [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 951, l. 72-72ob.].

The first Russian full-time consuls in Melbourne (A.D. Putyata, R. R. Ungern-Sternberg, N. P. Passek) constantly informed the Imperial Russian Embassy in London and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg about the process of forming the federation of migrant colonies in Australia, about the construction of its military fleet and plans to strengthen its defense, as well as about the first manifestations of Australia's independent foreign policy. In the context of growing contradictions between Russia and Japan and in the light of the beginning of military and political rapprochement between Japan and Great Britain, the Russian government was particularly interested in the opposition shown in Australia to the Anglo-Japanese trade treaty of 1894. The Governments of the resettlement colonies refused to extend certain provisions of this treaty to their territories (Millar, 1978, p. 60). Australia was particularly dissatisfied with article I of the Treaty, which granted subjects of both Powers the right to free residence and freedom.-

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trade in each other's territories. Australians feared both Japanese industrial competition and, to an even greater extent, the influx of Japanese immigrants to the fifth continent, which was contrary to the carefully observed "white Australia" policy in the migrant colonies. Sending to St. Petersburg information about this, received from the Russian Consul in Melbourne R. R. Ungern-Sternberg in the spring of 1896, the Russian Ambassador to England E. E. Staal described it as "not without interest", implying the need to use the information received from Melbourne to correct Russian ideas about the state of affairs in the Far East [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 820, l. 77].

From the reports of the Russian consuls on the progress of the creation of the Australian Federation, it followed that the proposed proclamation of the Australian Union as a dominion of the British Empire would mean the first step towards the establishment of Australia as a new independent state. In St. Petersburg, too, the understanding is gradually maturing that the Union of Australia is more than just a union of colonies, that the new dominion is approaching an independent state in its status. Proposals to expand political, trade and economic ties with Australia are viewed more positively. Characteristic in this sense is the opinion of the Chairman of the Council for Merchant Shipping, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. Having supported the project of passenger communication between Australia and Europe along the Siberian railway, he wrote in 1902: "It is highly desirable to establish close relations with Australia in addition to England" [RGIA, f. 95, op. 4, d. 110, l. 12.]. As early as 1896, the exequatur of the Russian consul in Melbourne (colony Victoria) was extended to the rest of the Australian colonies and New Zealand [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 820, l. 126; Victoria..., 1897]. True, New South Wales remained outside the consular district of the Russian consul in Melbourne, but the freelance consul in Sydney, E. M. Pohl, who had been representing Russian interests there since 1857, was given instructions "to achieve the possible unity of actions of our consular service agents" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 779, l. 180]..In 1899, another Russian representative office in Australia began to work: in Newcastle, a port city where merchant ships under the Russian flag often visited, R. A. Wallace, an off - duty Vice-Consul of Russia, began to work [Yearbook..., 1900, p. 340]. On the eve of the creation of the Union of Australia in 1900, the Russian Consul in Victoria received the status of Consul of Russia in Australia and New Zealand. And after the proclamation of the Union of Australia on January 1, 1901, the status of the diplomatic mission on the fifth continent was even more elevated: in 1902. it was transformed into the Russian Consulate General in the Australian Federation and New Zealand [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1076, l. 90; for more information, see:. Massov, 1998 (2)].

Thus, by the time of the creation of a single Australian state, a full-fledged Russian consular service was formed on its territory. This service could and did solve not only consular tasks related to the protection of the interests of Russian subjects in Australia, their property and trade interests of the Russian Empire. Given the importance of the Union of Australia as a major state entity and its growing role in shaping the balance of power in the South Pacific, the Russian Consuls-General made efforts to solve political problems. They informed their government about the development of the new state and the first steps of its foreign policy, and also contributed to the formation of a positive image of Russia and Russians in the eyes of Australian public opinion. In fact, the diverse activities of its Consuls-General in the Union of Australia in 1901-1918 marked the first stage in the history of diplomatic relations between the two countries in the twentieth century.

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At the time of the formation of the Australian Union, the post of Russian Consul in Melbourne was held by Nikolai Pompeyevich Passek. He was a 50-year-old official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who, however, had no experience of working abroad. His appointment to Melbourne in 1900 was his first appointment as a consul in 20 years of service at the Foreign Office. It was N. P. Passek, as a representative of Russia, who took part in the celebrations on the occasion of the proclamation of the new dominion of the British Empire. First, together with the Russian non-staff consul in New South Wales E. M. Paul, he was a guest at the solemn act of proclamation of the Australian Union in Sydney, and then on May 9, 1901, he participated in the opening of the Federal Parliament in Melbourne. On behalf of the Representative office in Melbourne, N. P. Passek organized a reception at the consulate building for official Australian representatives and foreign guests who arrived at the opening ceremony of the federal Parliament. In his speech, the Consul drew the attention of the audience to the special favor that Russia and its Emperor Nicholas II showed to the birth of a new Australian nation and its young country. This is benevolence, as N. N. assured his guests. P. Passek, expressed in the sending of the cruiser Gromoboy to Australia on the order of the Russian sovereign for celebrations [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1004, l. 50-50ob, 134, 136]. The consul's claims were, however, not entirely legitimate. The Russian cruiser was sent to Melbourne and Sydney only for reasons of diplomatic etiquette. Along with the warships of other great powers, he was to be a member of the honorary escort of the yacht of representatives of the St. James's Court, the Duke and Duchess of York, who arrived in Australia for the opening ceremony of the Federal Parliament [see: RGA of the Navy, l.40].

N. P. Passek's activity as Russia's representative in Australia was extremely active. In July 1901. He participated in a meeting with the Prime Minister of the Australian Union, E. Barton, in connection with the Adelaide - Darwin-Port Arthur Railway and maritime Railway plan. It was assumed that along this route, with the subsequent use of the Great Siberian Railway, it would be possible to establish cargo and passenger transportation from Australia to Europe. The project of the Trans-Australian railway and steamship line was not, however, implemented [RGIA, f. 95, op. 4, d. 110; f. 23, op. 25, d. 88, l. 8. For the scheme of the proposed railway and steamship line, see: RGIA, f. 1642, op. 1, D. 621.]. N. P. Passek proposed (also, however, without any visible result) to the Department of Trade and Manufactories of the Russian Ministry of Finance to organize a network of commercial agents in Australia who were supposed to promote Russian goods to the Australian market [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 951, l. 250-252; Oltarzhevsky, 1991, p. 70]. For better orientation of Russian entrepreneurs, the consul prepared a number of reports on the development of Australian agriculture, mining and sugar industries - the most important branches of the national economy of the Fifth continent [Passek, 1902(1), 1902(2), 1902(3), 1902(4)].

N. P. Passek was actively looking for opportunities to expand the supply of kerosene to Australia from Russia. To this end, the consul makes inquiries from local merchants about the reasons for the slow penetration of this product into the Australian market. Having found out that the reason is that the supplied kerosene does not meet the Australian standards for flammability, N. P. Passek, on his own initiative, appeals to his relative, an oil engineer from Baku, with a request to draw the attention of Baku oil producers to this obstacle and suggest that Baku firms, after it is eliminated, "purchase several bulk steamers and start exporting kerosene themselves... to Australian ports." In June 1901, N. P. Passek reported on the delivery of kerosene from Russia to Australia by the English firm Shell Transport Company and again drew attention to the lost profit of Russian merchants [RGIA, f. 23,

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op. 25, d. 88, l. 1-3]. However, the Russian economic authorities apparently did not believe in the prospects of the Australian market for Russian trade. Almost all of N. P. Passek's initiatives in the trade and economic sphere have not yielded any significant results.

In 1902, N. P. Passek received a new appointment - the Russian Consul General in the Iranian port of Bushir, and his place was already taken by Mikhail Ustinov in the rank of Consul General of Russia in the Australian Federation and New Zealand. A graduate of the Naval School in St. Petersburg, he began his career as a military seaman, participated in naval campaigns and transitions on the corvettes Gelon, Zabava, Varyag and Askold. In 1890, M. M. Ustinov was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and before being appointed to Melbourne, managed to serve as Vice-consul of Hakodate (Japan) and Consul in Hong Kong [Yezhdnik..., 1902, p. 98; Semenov V., Semenov N., 1998; AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 926 Acquaintance with the political situation in the East in general and in Japan in particular undoubtedly helped the new consul, since it was during his tenure as the Russian representative in Australia (1902-1907) that Russia was at war with Japan. Great Britain acted in this war as the main non-belligerent ally of Japan, and the position of the Australian Union as a dominion of the British Empire could not but arouse special interest in St. Petersburg.

As far as can be judged from the documents, M. M. Ustinov informed the Russian government in detail about the facts of the Australian Union's support for Japan in the war with Russia. So, the consul reported to St. Petersburg about the sea deliveries of Australian horses (up to 15 thousand) for the Japanese mounted infantry through Hong Kong, about the supply of fodder and grain to Japan on English steamships chartered by local firms. Information about the departure of the cargo steamer Rockton from Sydney, which was "fictitiously bought by the British for the Japanese", also went to Russia [AVPRI, f. 133, op. 470, d. 77, l. 32a-32ob., 48-48ob., 52-53ob].

M. M. Ustinov's special attention was drawn to the anti-Russian campaign that began in Australia after the sensational Gullya incident: on October 22, 1904, ships of the squadron of Vice Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky fired at English fishing vessels in the North Sea, mistaking them for Japanese destroyers in heavy fog. One fishing boat was sunk and five were damaged, one was killed and six British fishermen were wounded. M. M. Ustinov told the Russian Ambassador in London A. K. Benckendorff that "I am impressed... out of proportion to the excitement that engulfed all of England over the incident in the North Sea", the federal Parliament of Australia decided to "express loyal feelings to the Imperial government and, based on the false and inflammatory reports of the English jingoist press", on October 28, 1904, adopted "a resolution of protest against the harsh and gratuitous attack of the Russian fleet on fishermen" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1155, l. 2-3]. This resolution, adopted, as M. M. Ustinov noted, at the initiative of the Prime Minister of the Australian Union, J. H. Reed, passed in the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament "without any objections and with cheers". At the same time, in the upper house - the Senate, "there were several sensible people to raise their voices against the illogic and inappropriateness of its wording." A number of senators pointed out that the condemnation of Russia "is based only on false and biased reports of the English jingoist press, which clearly seeks to incite hostility to Russia" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d.1155, l. 3]. Senators J. C. Stewart, W. G. Higgs, and T. Givens strongly criticized the parliamentary resolution on the "Hull Incident" (Argus, 1904).

On November 2, 1904, M. M. Ustinov sent a letter to J. H. Reed expressing regret over the unjustified anti-Russian resolution of the Australian Parliament. This letter, as the Consul General A. K. Benckendorff reported, "was not unpolished."-

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but as Mr. Reid, in a political speech delivered on the 9th of November at the annual dinner of the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, only hinted in passing, and then very cautiously, about the accident in the North Sea, and the other speakers refrained from doing so altogether " [AVPRI, p. 184, op. 520, d. 1155, l. 3a-3ob.].

On November 27, 1904, in a report to A. K. Benckendorf, M. M. Ustinov again returns to the problem of the perception of the Russo-Japanese war by Australians. "The local press," he notes, " has consistently shown extreme hostility towards Russia since the beginning of the war... All sorts of slanders are being hurled at our army and navy - in short, everything possible is being done to discredit Russia." The only print publication in Australia that was free of obvious anti-Russian prejudices was the Sydney Bulletin, which, as the Consul General notes, "still treats us fairly and even now sympathetically, but, unfortunately, one is not a warrior in the field" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1162, l. 19 - 19ob.]. The attitude of the Australians to the Russo-Japanese war was indeed ambiguous. On the one hand, Russia has traditionally, since the mid-19th century, been perceived in Australia as the main and most dangerous enemy of the British Empire, and Japan, after the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese treaty in 1902, became a state allied to Great Britain. On the other hand, as already noted, Australia has always been suspicious of the strengthening of Japanese power, fearing the influx of the "yellow" population to the Australian continent and the growing industrial competition from Japan. Japanese expansion could reduce the cost of "white" labor and undermine the beginning development of the national Australian industry.

The beginning of the Russo-Japanese war was met by the official authorities of the Australian Union, as well as the official press, loyal to the idea of all-Imperial unity, from openly anti-Russian positions. At first, Australia welcomed the defeat of the Russians on the battlefronts, including the defeat of the Russian fleet at Tsushima. At the same time, even during the war, certain sympathies for the Russians began to manifest themselves, especially among Australians who were far from politics. "Common opinion and feelings outside official circles... As the prominent Australian historian R. Ward writes in this connection, "they were deeply anti-Japanese" [Ward, 1977, p.59]. The underlying anti-Japanese sentiment was not so much an awareness of the threat that Japan could pose to Australia, but rather racist sentiments and prejudice. Typical in this respect is a cartoon published in January 1904 in the already mentioned Sydney Bulletin magazine: a small man (Australian) looks at a polar bear (Russia) and a black monkey (Japan) preparing for a fight. The Australian says thoughtfully: "I don't know what can be good for me from the victory of one of them, but I, in any case, intend to support the white one!" [Australia..., 1985, p. 138] The same sentiments can be clearly seen in the lines of the poem by the Australian poet G. Lawson: "Let me make one shot for the Russians, even if this is my last shot... Russian detachments are White Man detachments! " [Ward, 1977, p. 60].

Changes in the attitude of Australians towards Russia after its defeat in the Russo-Japanese war were carefully monitored by Russian consular representatives in Australia in the future. The new Consul in Melbourne, Matvey Matveyevich Gedenstrom, paid special attention to the evolution of the attitude of the inhabitants of Australia to the Russian Empire. In 1908, he replaced M. M. Ustinov, who in 1907 was transferred to Lisbon as Consul General [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1233, l. 244, 280]. M. M. Gedenstrom served as the Russian Consul General in the Australian Union until 1910. He was an educated and versatile man with an analytical mind. After graduating from the Faculty of Law of Kiev University in 1882, he traveled for a long time to the countries of the East, and abroad.-

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tem serves in Tomsk and Blagoveshchensk under the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1900, M. M. Gedenstrom joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and worked as a vice-consul in Hakodate. In June 1904, he was sent to the ports of the Red Sea to participate in "preventive measures through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs": it was necessary to ensure the safe passage of ships of the Russian squadron through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Far East. In the documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, M. M. Gedenstrom is described as "intelligent, well-mannered, knows several foreign languages, and is careful in business relations." The fact that in 1909 M. M. Gedenstrom was chosen as the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian diplomat is also an evidence of his outstanding knowledge. Peter the Great (Kunstkamera) of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences was awarded a diploma "for enlightened services rendered to the Museum" (Oltarzhevsky, 1984, p.50).

Understanding the importance for Russia's foreign policy of correctly assessing the change in the balance of power in the Pacific basin after its defeat in the Russo-Japanese war, M. M. Gedenstrom in his reports dwells in detail on the attitude of Australians to Japan and the new foreign policy guidelines of the Australian Union. "Before the Russo-Japanese War," M. M. Gedenstrom wrote in September 1908, " in the public opinion of Australia... There was a belief that Russia had designs on Australia, and the fear of an invasion by the Russian fleet only served to increase the age-old hatred that the British had for the Russians. After the miserable war, the fear was gone... Instead, a new enemy has emerged, and the eyes of Australians are anxiously focused on it. They see the enemy of this in the face of England's allies, the Japanese. Not only the possibility, but also the intention of the Japanese to take advantage of the first opportunity for the military conquest of Australia is considered here as a fact that is almost beyond doubt. Both the society and the Federal Prime Minister himself, G. Deakin (A. Deakin. - Yu. A., A.M.) say it openly " [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 77-77ob.].

The Australian ruling circles were also clearly aware that the growing Anglo-German contradictions in Europe forced Britain to concentrate its naval forces in European waters at the expense of weakening the British presence in other regions, including in the Pacific basin. Australia remained one-on-one with Japan, and the only obstacle to a possible Japanese advance to the Fifth Continent was the Anglo-Japanese alliance, in the strength and durability of which Australia had little faith. In the current geopolitical situation, the Government of the Union of Australia is taking steps to find a new patron who would be able to help Australia ensure its security. Such a patron could be the United States, which, like the Australian Union, was concerned about the strengthening of Japan after its victory in the war with Russia. At the end of 1907, without prior agreement with the British government, the Prime Minister of the Australian Union, A. Deakin, invited an American squadron to Australia, sent by the US President, T. Deakin. Roosevelt to circumnavigate the world. The visit of American ships to Sydney and Melbourne took place in August-September 1908. and it was truly triumphant [for more details, see Grudzinsky, 1996, pp. 162-166]. M. M. Gedenstrom, of course, immediately informed the Russian government about the first signs of the beginning of Australia's foreign policy reorientation towards the United States. In a report dated September 10, 1908, he writes about the underlying causes of this process. "American sailors," the consul General points out, " have come... get to know the country that they might have to defend if they did... the British fleet was so busy that it could not have detached sufficient naval forces for its remote colony" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 76ob-77]. The Australian authorities, for their part, at every opportunity sought to indicate Australia's focus on a long-term rapprochement with the United States, which would lead to a long-term rapprochement with the United States.

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it should also include a defensive component. "In speech... at one of the official celebrations, "notes M. M. Gedenstrom," Prime Minister Deakin quite clearly expressed the hope that if Australia was threatened by any power, the North American Republic, as a kindred nation of England, would protect it from the enemy " [AVPRI, p. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 79ob. -80].

The emergence of elements of an independent foreign policy of the Australian Union, as well as the acceleration of the creation of its own army and navy, weakens its ties with Great Britain and, according to the consul, turns Australia into an independent state in fact. M. M. Gedenstrom repeatedly pointed out in his reports "the actual independence enjoyed by the Australian Federation", the fact that"how weak are the ties connecting it with the mother country" in constitutional terms [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 115-115]. The consul also draws attention to the attempts of the Australians to create their own sphere of influence in the South Pacific. "Here... there is an idea of its own, so to speak, local imperialism, consisting in the belief that the nearby islands should be under the protection of Australia "[AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 142 vol.]. "Australia's desires in this area," M. M. Gedenstrom emphasized, " are extremely high characteristic" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 146]. M. M. Gedenstrom attached special importance to the study of trends towards the sovereignization of the Australian Union and the new positioning of this country in the international arena. Understanding the significance of these processes, the Consul General believed, will help the Russian government understand "what value and magnitude... Australia can represent itself in the eyes of European and some other states", and determine the role that it "is intended to play, perhaps not in the very distant future" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 84, 115].

The Russian Consuls-General in the Australian Union, of course, also monitored the main trends in the country's domestic political development. Special attention was paid to the problems that the experience of solving them seemed relevant from the point of view of the processes that were developing in Russia. First of all, these are the growing demands in Russian society for the abolition of autocracy and the introduction of the foundations of constitutionalism into the system of government of the country, as well as the rapid radicalization of the working-class movement. So, N. P. Passek prepared a report, later published in the Russian press, on the development of parliamentarism and the system of local self-government in Australia [Passek, 1901]. M. M. Gedenstrom wrote a whole treatise (75 pages with turns!) on the peculiarities of Australian socialism, explicitly stating that it is necessary to know about the policy of the Australian socialists "in the sense of... using other people's experience in order not to repeat mistakes " [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 3]. The tsarist Consul, of course, condemned the socialist experiments of the labor governments of the Australian Union and pointed out that, in his opinion, the flourishing state of Australia was achieved "not because of", but rather "despite the socialists" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 72; for more details, see Massov, 2003].

Like his predecessors, M. M. Gedenstrom sought to promote the expansion of trade ties between Australia and Russia. The archives contain reports of the Consul General for 1908-1909 indicating the desire of Australian tobacco merchants to establish purchases of tobacco products in Russia, about the interest in the products of its furniture industry, which is in good demand in Australia [RGIA, f. 23, op. 25, d. 88, l. 16-16ob., 21]. The Ministry of Trade and Industry, which eventually received these reports, forwarded information about the possibility of commercial activity in the Australian market to the Council of Congresses of representatives of industry and Trade. However, there this information, as a rule, was not given due importance. As a curiosity, we note that in the response of the Council of Congresses of Representatives of Industry and Trade to a letter about the possibility of trade with Australia

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(March 1909) The Ministry of Trade and Industry is grateful for the information on the markets of Austria (!) [RGIA, f. 23, op. 25, d. 88, l. 29]. In the first decade of the twentieth century, the Australian Union received a small amount of timber and kerosene from Russia, as well as furniture, linen fabrics, soap, candles, leather, and alcoholic beverages. The Australians, in turn, supplied Russia with the products of their traditional exports: wool, lard, and also - mainly to Vladivostok-frozen meat. Russian vessels also participated in this trade, and M. M. Gedenstrom often had to intervene in conflicts between shipowners and the Australian authorities related to real or imaginary violations of Australian customs regulations or financial problems. Thus, the Russian Consul General had to make a lot of efforts to save the Russian merchant ship Sungari from being sold for debts in Sydney [Oltarzhevsky, 1990, p. 50]. Overall, however, the volume of trade was quite small. For example, in 1906, the most successful year for trade with Australia, Australian exports to Russia amounted to only 136,514 rubles, of which Australian-made industrial products were imported in the amount of 105 rubles [Australian trade..., 1909, p. 452]. M. M. Gedenstrom, without any exaggeration, wrote in one of his reports that "there is almost no trade between Russia and Australia" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d.1300, l. 107]. M. M. Gedenstrom saw the reasons for the unsatisfactory state of affairs in the field of Russian-Australian economic relations in the insufficient activity of Russian entrepreneurs who do not pay due attention to the Australian markets1. "For the trade exchange between Australia and Russia," the Consul General pointed out, "it is necessary that Russian merchants themselves come here to study market conditions on the spot" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1300, l. 107ob.]. Like N. P. Passek, M. M. Gedenstrom considered it necessary to send Russian commercial agents to Australia, but this time his wish was not implemented. However, the expansion of the Russian consular service on the Fifth Continent can be considered a definite indication of the expansion of ties between Australia and Russia - mainly due to the increase in Russian emigration to Australia. In addition to the full-time Consul General in Melbourne, the non-staff Consul in Sydney, and the non-staff Vice-consul in Newcastle, by 1909 non-staff consuls in Adelaide and Brisbane were added, and the title of Consul General in Melbourne became "Consul General in the Union of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand" [Yearbook..., 1909, p.44].

The work of the Russian Consul General, Alexander Nikolaevich Abaza, who took up his post in Melbourne in 1911, was particularly focused on working with compatriots who moved to Australia. A native of the Moldavian nobility, A. N. Abaza began serving in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in 1895, immediately after graduating from the Imperial Alexander Lyceum. He worked in the consulates of Russia in Jerusalem, Bangkok, and served as consul in Alexandria. Energetic and active, able to clearly express his thoughts, he quickly advanced through the service [Nezabytye Mogily..., 1999, p. 9; Belyakov, 2001, p. 10].

By 1914, according to the data of the Russian consulate in Melbourne, Australia, there were approximately 11 thousand immigrants from Russia and another 1 thousand lived in New Zealand [Kanevskaya, 2005, p. 45]. A. N. Abaza attached great importance to the conditions under which Russian people who find themselves on the Fifth Continent still have a feeling that they are living on the Fifth Continent. what

1 For example, in response to a request sent in 1909 through the Russian Consulate General in Melbourne by an Australian furniture company to send a catalog of samples of furniture products, Fabrikanty F. A. was sent to the United States. Meltzer from St. Petersburg and F. Fischer from Moscow replied that they had never had any catalogues, and therefore they would not be able to send anything to Australia [RGIA, f. 23, op. 25, d. 88, l. 30, 31].

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they "have not lost a living connection with the fatherland even in distant Australia, and that here every Russian, if necessary, can expect to find warm sympathy and heartfelt help from his native people" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1404, l. 57-58]. Russian immigrants were mostly representatives of the working peasant emigration, and the main reason why they sought to get into the Australian resettlement colonies was the lack of free land in Russia, if any, on the fifth continent. After the revolution of 1905 - 1907 in Australia, there were also emigrant revolutionaries who left their homeland to escape the persecution of the government. The Russian revolutionary workers formed not so much a large as a noisy and very active part of the Russian emigration. In 1910, political emigrants united to form the Union of Russian Emigrants (SRE) (since 1914 it has been called the Union of Russian Workers), which stood on pro-Bolshevik positions. The emigrant Russian-language press was equally radical.

The specific nature of the Russian emigrant community highlighted the task of protecting emigrants from the influence of propaganda of Russian revolutionaries, if possible. Often, the consulate turned to the services of the police to identify radical elements in a particular organization of Russian emigrants. So, in 1911, on behalf of Russian consular representatives, the Queensland police checked the" loyalty " of the Russian Mutual Aid Society in Brisbane [Fried-Poole Collection]. It should be noted that in the period before the First World War, most of the Russian emigrants, including political ones, were concentrated in the state of Queensland. That is why, in order to reduce the influence of radical elements, A. N. Abaza insisted on placing the residence of a Russian Orthodox priest in the capital of this state, Brisbane [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1506, l. 58]. The Consul General rightly counted on the calming influence of religious practice in many ways. In December 1911, A. N. Abaza vigorously but unsuccessfully protested against the election of the Bolshevik F. A. Sergeev (Artem)as chairman of the Union of Russian Emigrants, "convicted at home for state crimes "[Zhukovsky, 1986, p. 170-171.]. His struggle against the printed organs of the SRE was more successful. In 1912 and 1916, at the suggestion of the Russian consul, the Australian authorities closed the publications of this union "Echo of Australia" and "Izvestia of the Union of Russian Emigrants" [Fried, 1992, p.112].

After the February Revolution of 1917, the activity of Russian political emigrants increased enormously. Trying to somehow understand the state of affairs and, if possible, find ways to pacify the Russian emigration, in October 1917, A. N. Abaza personally went on an inspection trip to Brisbane. It was held in close cooperation with the ranks of the Australian military intelligence, since Russian radicals were not unreasonably accused of conducting anti-war propaganda. The results of the trip were disappointing. It turned out that the majority of Russian residents in Brisbane sympathize with anarcho-syndicalists from the Industrial Workers of the World organization, and their print publications publish articles of an "undesirable nature" [NAA: BP4/1, 66/4/2072.].

The First World War brought new concerns to the Russian consular service in Australia. In 1915, A. N. Abaza took active steps to return to Russia and then send to military service Russian reservists living in Australia aged from 21 to 38 years. He also managed to suspend the naturalization of Russians aged 18 to 50 in Australia [Govor, 2005, p. 75]. If it was impossible for Russian citizens of military age to return home, reservists were invited to join the Allied armies. In coordination with the Australian Department of Defense, the military authorities of all states were required to regularly transmit to the Russian Consul General lists of Russians who joined the Australian Army [NAA: MP 16/1, 15/3/1674]. In 1916 Abaza unsuccessfully sought a ban

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to allow Russian citizens to leave Australia without the written permission of the consulate in order to prevent them from avoiding conscription. The Australian authorities, however, refused to comply with this request of the Russian Consul General, citing the impossibility of violating human rights [Govor, 2005, p.74-75].

A. N. Abaza also assisted in the admission of foreigners to Russian citizenship. During the First World War, this became especially important for the "Austrian Slavs" living in Australia, who faced the threat of internment. The Russian Consul General issued them temporary certificates of consular protection, which confirmed the fact that they had applied to the tsar with an application for accepting Russian citizenship. At the same time, A. N. Abaza appealed to the Australian authorities to release the holders of certificates from the restrictions imposed on them as subjects of Austria-Hungary at war with the Entente, with the exception of the ban on leaving. The Australians, however, quite reasonably reasoned that such a practice could "confuse" the registration of citizens of hostile countries and therefore suggested that the Russian Consul General "refrain from issuing certificates" [NAA: A11803, 1914/89/241].

During the First World War, there was a reorientation of Australian foreign trade. The German market, which was important for the Australian economy, was lost. A. N. Abaza believed that this circumstance could and should lead to increased trade between Russia and the Australian Union. He noted that Australia's geographical position allows it to directly supply Russia with the goods it needs. Such trading, among other things, will partly help the Australians to compensate for the loss of the German market. In January 1917, the Russian-Australian Trade and Information Bureau was established in Melbourne on the initiative and under the chairmanship of A. N. Abaza, which was supposed to promote the development of trade between the two countries [Govor, 1997, p. 166].

The increase in the number of Russian emigrants living in Australia, as well as the expansion of the activities of the Consulate General, gave rise to the need to expand the Russian consular service in the Australian Union. "Our consular representation in Australia," the Consul General wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February 1914, "is far from satisfying modern needs and does not meet the constantly increasing everyday issues" [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1506, l. 57.]. A. N. Abaza proposed to increase the number of employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. number of full-time consuls and divide the consular offices in Australia and New Zealand. In his opinion, a full-time representative office in Australia should have included a consulate general under the Government of the Union of Australia in Melbourne (with subsequent relocation to the new capital of the Union of Australia, Canberra, which was under construction), full-time consulates in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne (including Tasmania), Perth and Sydney [AWPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1506, l. 58-58ob.]. Consulates in New Zealand (in Auckland and Wellington) were to be independent and not subordinate to the Consulate General in Australia. At the same time, it was proposed to include the islands of Fiji, the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides condominium, the French colony of New Caledonia and the German part of New Guinea in the Australian consular District, and the independent islands of Tonga, the English, German and American parts of Samoa, and the French colony of Tahiti in the New Zealand consular district.

Arguing his position, A. N. Abaza wrote that "with the autonomy and almost complete independence of Australia and New Zealand from England, the activity of the consul General here should ipso facto have a certain diplomatic character", i.e. include political and principled issues, such as " for example, in cases of citizenship, conscription,military service, etc.". guarantees of justice, the issue of inheritance, etc. " [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1506, l. 57ob.]. In addition, the expansion of the consular

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This will make it easier to fight the influence of Russian political emigrants. "Deprived of the possibility of timely support from the domestic authorities," A. N. Abaza wrote in this connection, "many Russians accept, even against their will, Australian citizenship," while hundreds of others " fall under the pernicious influence of political criminals who have fled Russia and soon turn from peaceful loyal subjects of immigrants into ardent socialists." and anarchists " [AVPRI, f. 184, op. 520, d. 1506, l. 57]. The measures proposed by Abaza were only partially implemented. By 1916, only the Consulate General in Melbourne remained full-time, but non-regular consular staff, mostly local merchants, worked in Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Darwin, Newcastle, Perth, Port Pirie, Sydney and Fremantle. Two non-regular vice-consuls served in Auckland and Wellington (Oltarzhevsky, 1990, p. 51). A notable disadvantage of all non-regular consuls was their poor knowledge of the Russian language, which caused serious complaints and gave rise to a certain distrust of them on the part of Russian emigrants.

The February revolution of 1917 and the overthrow of the autocracy in Russia were calmly received by the staff of the Russian Consulate General in Melbourne. A. N. Abaza successfully fulfilled the instructions of the new Russian authorities of March 27, 1917 on the return of political emigrants to their homeland. For its implementation, a bank loan was obtained in the amount of 20 thousand f. st. [NAA: A981, Cons 240]. In July 1917, as President of the Russian-Australian Bureau of Trade and Information, the Consul General initiated the Australian Government to send a telegram to the Minister of War of the Provisional Government, A. F. Kerensky, expressing his appreciation of the offensive launched by Russia on the German front [NAA: A981, Cons 240].

However, after the October revolution in Russia in 1917 and the Bolsheviks came to power, the situation changed. The desire of the Soviet government headed by V. I. Lenin to withdraw from the World War and abandon allied relations with the Entente countries was regarded by A. N. Abaza as a betrayal of Russia's interests. On December 3, 1917, in a letter to Australian Prime Minister W. M. Hughes, he dissociated himself from the Bolshevik government in Petrograd and stated that he represented "Russians who are completely loyal to the Allies" [NAA: A981, Cons 241]. The response to this letter was the immediate refusal of the Australian authorities to recognize the passports issued by the Russian Consul General. In a telegram to the British Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, W. Long, the Governor-General of Australia, R. Munro-Ferguson, requested instructions on the "Russian question" and on the attitude to documents issued by the consulate [NAA: A2, 1918/142; NAA: A981, Cons 241]. The Australians were informed about the position of the British government, which, after the overthrow of the Interim Government in Russia, denied the head of the Russian embassy in London official status. The Australian authorities did the same with the Russian consulate in Melbourne.

Under these circumstances, on December 26, 1917, in a letter to the Provisional Government's Ambassador in London, K. D. Nabokov, A. N. Abaza announced his decision to leave the service in Melbourne from January 27, 1918 [NAA: A981, Cons 241]. The day before the scheduled date, January 26, 1918, A. N. Abaza informed the Prime Minister of the Australian Union, W. Hughes, about the termination of his work as Consul General of Russia. He handed over the consulate's archive to the former non-staff Vice-Consul G. S. Slei. Ciphers and code books were subject to destruction [NAA: A981, Cons 241].

Abaza's resignation essentially meant the termination of consular relations between the Union of Australia and Russia. The Soviet Government's attempt to appoint its Consul General, P. F. Simonov, in early 1918 was unsuccessful. One of the leaders of the radical wing of the Union of Russian Workers in Australia, the activist of the Industrial Workers of the World P. F. Simonov, was not recognized as a consul by the Government of the Australian Union. Simonov's campaign activities

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Among Australian workers, participation in the creation of the Communist Party of Australia in 1920 only irritated the Australian authorities. They perceived him as a disloyal immigrant, and he was arrested and tried. Having failed to establish himself as a consul, P. F. Simonov left the country in 1921 [for more details, see Simonov, 1922; Rudnitsky, 1991, pp. 108-111, 124-131; Fried, 1972].

Again, Australia established diplomatic relations with our country only in 1942, at the height of the Second World War, when both nations were allies in the fight against fascism [for more information, see Poole, 1992].

The first stage of development of consular relations between Russia and the Union of Australia (1901-1918) occupies a special place in the history of relations between the two countries. During this period, relations between Russia and Australia are no longer limited only to humanitarian contacts, as it was during most of the XIX century, when sailors of Russian warships visited the ports of Australian migrant colonies. The expansion of relations between the two countries, and above all the growth of Russian emigration to the Fifth Continent at the beginning of the 20th century, poses new challenges for the Consuls General of Russia. It was necessary to monitor the activities of Russian emigrant revolutionaries and, if possible, neutralize their influence on both the Russian community in Australia and the Australian labor movement. This task was particularly important in terms of improving the image of Russia and Russians in the eyes of Australian public opinion. The Consuls-General made a significant contribution to the development of trade and economic relations between Australia and Russia, although it must be admitted that the results of their work in this area were very modest. In the period 1901-1918, political activity became more and more important. diplomatic affairs, activities of consuls general. Professional diplomats, they fairly fully and objectively informed the Russian government about the evolution of the foreign policy ideas and preferences of the Australian Union. The reports of the consuls-General emphasized the fact that the Australians refused to see Russia as their most dangerous opponent in the 19th century, noted the growth of anti-Japanese sentiment in Australia and the beginning of the reorientation of the emerging foreign policy of the Australian dominion from Great Britain to the United States. At the same time, Russian representatives considered the Australian Union as a state entity that had already passed most of the way to full state independence. All this information expanded and clarified the ideas of Russian diplomacy about changing the balance of power in the Pacific Ocean, which was of no small importance for the Russian Empire in the context of the weakening of its position in the Far East. It is no great exaggeration to say that in the period 1901-1918, interstate relations between Russia and Australia actually began. The Union of Australia, although it remained on the periphery of Russian foreign policy, nevertheless took its own place in the palette of Russia's relations with foreign countries.

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