One hundred years after the end of World War I, Australian-Jordanian relations were profiled in a public talk on Wednesday by Bernard Lynch, Australia’s ambassador to Jordan.

“20,000 Australians supported the Great Arab Revolt in fighting the Ottomans on Jordanian soil with 500 Australians sacrificing their lives during that war,” said Lynch at a session of the provisional Amman International Rotary Club. Lynch said that at least seventy-seven of those Australians who fought in battles in the Jordan Valley, As-Salt, and Amman are buried on Jordanian soil.

Lynch presented the provisional club members at Hayyat Hotel with the Embassy’s recently released “Forged Under Fire” photo essay book documenting more than a century of Jordanian-Australian relations.

The ambassador also talked about the progress of relations since the first world War which included further Australian participation in the region during the Second World war and the expansion of bilateral relations over the past 50 years. While defense and security cooperation remain a central plank of the relationship, there are many other strands of engagement and cooperation, Lynch said. Relating a recent visit to Mafraq, Lynch said he was pleased to discover that many of the academics at the Al al Bayt University are alumni from Australian educational institutes.

The Australian diplomat spoke of his Embassy’s efforts to foster Australian investment in Jordan including a Green Hydrogen project based on solar and wind renewable energy. He also said that he is in regular touch with Ali Kraishan Jordan’s ambassador to Australia and they exchange ideas and are trying to encourage Australians of Jordanian origin and others to consider investing in Jordan.

During the discussion, the Australian envoy said that the mission in Jordan is one of the biggest in the region and that Australian aid includes humanitarian support to refugees and vulnerable host communities and technical assistance in water management. “There are some locations in Australia that are water-deprived and we have developed some important ways of dealing with drought in those areas.” Along with close defense and security ties, the two countries also enjoyed long-standing educational links and archaeological cooperation, said, Lynch.