**Event Update**

We are pleased to advise that the Ambassador of Portugal, H.E. António Albuquerque Moniz will also be joining the panel discussion virtually from Canberra. 

On 25 April 1974 a group of army captains overthrew the Salazar-Caetano dictatorship in Portugal, starting a remarkable transition to democracy for the country and setting off a series of events of global significance, relating mainly to the accelerated decolonisation of the Portuguese territories in Africa and Asia. For Australia, the acute impact was centred on East Timor, which after more than 400 years of Portuguese colonialism would experience a traumatic journey to independence, including a 25-year period of Indonesian rule, imposing intense strains on bilateral and regional relationships. In the Western Indian Ocean, the withdrawal of Portugal from Mozambique and Angola, set off events not only in those countries as they moved to independence but also the wider Southern African region, including Zimbabwe and South Africa. The Carnation Revolution - as the last coup d'etat in Western Europe became known as - unleashed nationalist and cold war forces around the world and posed dilemmas for countries far beyond the borders of Portugal and its colonies.  

To commemorate the 50-year anniversary of this historical event, AIIA WA is pleased to be organising, in collaboration with Alliance Française de Perth, a discussion with our distinguished panel to reflect on the impact of the Carnation Revolution on Australia and - what today we call - the Indo-Pacific. 

Confirmed speakers for our panel include: Dr Sue Boyd, past President of the AIIA WA, whose first international assignment during in a close to 40 year diplomatic career was in Lisbon, in the lead up to the Carnation Revolution and who provided key policy advice in the days following the coup d'etat to the Australian Government and directly to Prime Minister Whitlam; Dr Vanessa Herman, Senior Lecturer in Curtin University where she coordinates the history program and lectures in History and International Relations with a focus on Indonesia and East Timor; and Brendan Augustin, the current President of AIIA WA who has had international assignments across Asia, Europe and Africa, including in Indonesia and East Timor.