Australian High Commission Building History

The Australian High Commission building on Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, Kuala Lumpur was officially opened for business on 12 June 1978 after a construction period of 30 months. Prior to this, the High Commission was located in the Great Eastern building on Jalan Ampang. The Australian High Commission building is now surrounded by modern high-rise buildings.

The Australian Prime Minister at thetime, Gough Whitlam,
turned the first sod at the construction site in Jalan Yap
Kwan Seng on 29 January 1974 during an official visit
to Malaysia.

Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam with
Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein
in Malaysia, 1974

Photo credit: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

The building was designed by the Australian architecture
firm, Joyce Nankivell Associates of Melbourne – a firm
consisting of architects, Bernard Joyce and William
Nankivell. In 1974 the duo, in association with Leong Thian
Dan Rakan-rakan, were commissioned to design the
building.
They proposed a bold design in the Brutalist style that was
popular at the time. The ‘L’ shape plan with a lift and service
tower at the junction of the wings successfully combined the
dual obligations of high security and public access. The
original design also incorporated
a large reflecting pool and
several existing trees.
Joyce and Nankivell had previously won a competition to
design the Perak Turf Club in Ipoh, Malaysia (which remains
one of the iconic buildings in Ipoh and a popular stop for
tourists), and prior to that were working as lecturers at RMIT
University in Melbourne (formerly known as Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology).


The building was well-received, featured in the Architectural Review, and considered by one local observer to be ‘one of the best examples of Brutalist non-commercial office space’ in Kuala Lumpur.


At the time of construction, this area of Kuala Lumpur which is now referred to as KL City Centre (KLCC) was largely residential and a racecourse, known as the Selangor Turf Club, sat across the road from the High Commission. This was later demolished and replaced by the iconic Petronas twin towers in the mid-90s.