The first official Australian presence in Bangladesh dates back to April 1969, when a Deputy High Commission (reporting to the High Commission of Australia in Islamabad, West Pakistan) was opened in the city of Dacca, the capital of East Pakistan.

[2] Career diplomat James Lawrence (Jim) Allen, was appointed as Deputy High Commissioner, operating from the Purbani Hotel in Motijheel Thana.

[3] Allen had previously served as the secretary to Richard Casey during his term as Governor of Bengal (1944–1946).

[5] On 13 March 1972, the former deputy high commissioner in Dacca (renamed Dhaka in 1982) and chargé d'affaires of the Australian mission since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Jim Allen, was appointed as Australia's first Ambassador to Bangladesh, which was quickly upgraded to the rank of high commissioner following Bangladesh's admission to the Commonwealth of Nations on 18 April 1972.

[6][7] Allen presented his letters of commission to the President of Bangladesh, Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, on 21 April 1972.