Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong has urged the UK to confront its colonial past.
Speaking at King's College's Centre for Grand Strategy, Senator Wong highlighted the UK's role in the Indo-Pacific region both now and in its history.
She described her own family's history and its relationship with British colonialism.
Ms Wong said, "Such stories can sometimes feel uncomfortable – for those whose stories they are, and for those who hear them."
"But understanding the past enables us to better share the present and the future."
She suggested that by developing an understanding of both Australia and the UK's colonial history, "more common ground" could be found "than if we stayed sheltered in narrower versions of our countries' histories."
"It helps open the world to us. It helps open the Indo-Pacific to us."
Wiradjuri academic James Blackwell, a Research Fellow in Indigenous Diplomacies at the Australian National University's Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, told National Indigenous Times it was "pretty interesting" to see the Senator make the comments in London.
"Britain does need to reconcile with its colonial past, how could it not? Britain's existence, Britain's wealth, Britain's power come from that colonial past," he said.
"Acknowledging that I think is important for them. It's also important for us to bring that up, as Australia, a nation made up of proud Indigenous nations with an Indigenous heritage going back thousands of years.
"We also are just a white colonial power. We are a nation built on stolen land and Indigenous peoples."
Mr Blackwell said making the comments "to Britain, in Britain" was a positive step.
"It's rare that we see trade and foreign ministers take such a forward stance on colonialism," he said.
Mr Blackwell compared Senator Wong's speech on colonial history in London to being on the Death Star.
"She's in the heart of the Empire there."
He said that Australia's relationship with the UK can move forward if both nations acknowledge their troubled histories.
"You can't address the problem until acknowledging there is one," he said.
"Penny Wong is trying to acknowledge that colonial past in order to not move forward, but come together to make it a better relationship that is more reflective of Australia's Indigenous colonial heritage."
He made note of the "tens of thousands of cultural artefacts and ancestral remains" in museums and universities in the UK.
Mr Blackwell said repatriation of those artefacts is a possibility given the recent discussion of repatriation of stolen artefacts by British colonisers with Greece and Benin.
"I think that that's really important for our communities. That the return of those things that have been stolen or that have been kept for 200 years is really important. Even if that's the only thing that moves forward from this, that is still a big win, I think for Mob and for Australia," he said.
"It's obviously good to see her take more of a focus on First Nations people within Foreign Policy and International Relations."
"Mob in this country have been practising these types of diplomacy in International Relations for tens of thousands of years. Seeing those things more recognised is obviously a great thing."
