Lumen Summer 2015 - Flipbook - Page 16
story by Genevieve Sanchez
Carving a career in
foreign affairs
Two exchange scholarships to study in Japan proved
invaluable for Dara Williams later in her career in foreign affairs.
G
raduating from the University of
Adelaide in economics and law
in the 1990s, Dara went on to
become the Minister-Counsellor (Political)
at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo.
She oversees the Embassy’s political,
strategic and public affairs work and is
also involved in the establishment of the
New Colombo Plan (NCP) in Japan.
Dara is especially grateful to her
University of Adelaide Japanese language
teacher for helping launch her international
career. It was Dr Shoko Yoneyama who
encouraged her to apply for the Japanese
exchange scholarships which led her to
study at the Osaka International Women’s
University and prestigious Keio University.
Twenty years on, Dara has reconnected
with her mentor.
“After I was posted to Tokyo with the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
in 2012, I contacted Shoko to share the
14 Lumen | Summer 2015
news that I would have the chance to use
my Japanese language professionally,”
she said.
“I wanted her to know that her support
all those years before had a direct and
positive impact.”
Shoko, who has been working for the
University for 25 years, is Convenor of
the Gateway Japan Study Tour which
constitutes the largest group of students
in the country funded by the NCP’s first
tranche in 2014.
When Shoko discovered that Dara
had been involved in helping embed the
NCP pilot in Japan, she asked Dara to
represent the Australian Embassy at the
program’s opening ceremony.
“Dara is a wonderful example of
the benefit of the overseas exchange
experience, I thought it would be great
if she could come to the opening of the
Gateway Japan Study Tour at Tottori
University in regional Japan, representing
the Australian Government, and to talk
with our undergraduates,” said Shoko.
Dara has a strong family connection
with the University of Adelaide through
her grandfather George Sved, AM,
an Associate Professor in the Faculty
of Engineering who was awarded an
honorary doctorate. He taught at the
University from 1950 to 1975 and
continued to provide academic assistance
as an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow
until his death in 1994.
During her studies at Adelaide, Dara’s
scholarship success also enabled her to
study for a year at Philipps-Universität in
Marburg, Germany.
She completed a Graduate Certificate
in Legal Practice at the University of South
Australia before joining the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Graduate
Trainee program. She later received a
