A partnership between the people and municipalities of Darebin, Yarra and Baucau
Friends of Baucau Annual Report 2025
2025 was an inspiring and busy year for Friends of Baucau. New friendships were formed and older friendships strengthened.
New alliances in Australia and Timor-Leste were formed following the Konferénsia Internasionál “Sidade Amiga”, the International Friendship Groups conference held in Dili in July that Friends of Baucau attended. Special mention to H.E. Sra. Veneranda Eurico Marques Lemos Martins (Prezidente Autoridade Munisipal, PAM de Baucau), Asosiasaun Defisiensia Fiar Timor-Leste (ADFTL), and Friends of Aileu, and Monash Friends of Vemasse.
Some other highlights of 2025 that are featured in this report include:
In May we celebrated the 25th anniversary of Friends of Baucau, along with Friends of Aileu (Merri-Bek) and Friends of Suai / Cova Lima (Port Phillip), as the original 3 friendship groups in Australia at the Councils Connecting Communities event.
In July, Glenda Lasslett, Chris Dureau and I followed up our conference participation with a weeklong visit to our friends in Baucau.
In August we were presented with the Medal of Timor by his Excellency Sr. Jose Ramos-Horta the President of Timor-Leste. This was given to many Australian Friendship Groups to acknowledge 25 years of friendship and support to communities in Timor-Leste.
In October, along with Friends of Aileu, we promoted the Young Leader Awards, to offer three young Australian-born Timorese the opportunity to participate in the PermaYouth Convergence in Ermera, Timor-Leste.
And we continued to support our friends and partners in Baucau – Afalyca, PermaTil, ADFTL, along with offering student teacher scholarships.
Our partnership with METAC (Melbourne East Timor Activity Centre) based in Richmond continued with our sponsorship of two of their monthly community dinners this year. The dinners are held on the first Friday of each month and include cultural performances, news updates from Timor, guest speakers. Note that friends
and supporters of Timor-Leste are always welcome to attend.
This year we also strengthened our connections with the Timorese Association in Victoria (TAV), welcoming Nicolai Frage of TAV as a member of our committee at the end of the year. And we participated in the wonderful event presented by TAV in August to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Timorese refugees in
Melbourne, making a financial contribution to support the historic personal stories and photographic display at the event.
FoB looks forward to building our relationships with TAV in 2026 and further strengthening all our partnerships and friendships both in Australia and in Timor-Leste.
To read the complete report click here:
Ursula Harrison, Coordinator
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Friends of Baucau is a not-for-profit community organisation that believes that friendship is about listening, having empathy and putting ourselves in the shoes of others.
Working across neighbouring countries we celebrate the good times together and support each other in harder times. We share our skills and experience, our networks, knowledge and resources.
Friends of Baucau has been learning, growing and working productively with our friends in Timor-Leste for over 20 years.
Become a member
If you’d like to be part of our kind, caring and welcoming organisation and make a real difference to the lives of our nearest international neighbours, membership costs just $10 a year. Friends of Baucau meets monthly at Council venues across Yarra and Darebin.
Buy our coffee
Our organic single origin Arabica beans are sourced from Cooperativa Cafe Timor, the largest organic freehold farmer cooperative in the country. The beans are roasted and packaged by Coffee Mio. All the profits from our coffee sales go straight back into supporting programs and people on the ground in Baucau.
Add some joy to the world! Buy some as a gift for someone else (or spoil yourself).
Make a donation
We engage in fundraising activities to support local projects, respond to community need and enable educational opportunities in Timor-Leste. We also regularly support community and professional exchange programs. If you’d like to make a donation just click on the link below. If you’d like to set up a monthly giving plan please contact us here for further details.