‘Few Australians have had such a large impact on the world’

When Martin Indyk was buried in Washington DC on July 30, the coffin was draped with the Star-Spangled Banner – the flag of the United States. Two uniformed US Marines then folded it in crisp military style and presented it to Indyk’s widow. And the American flag was flown at half-mast above Capitol Hill, where the US Senate and House of Representatives are located.

Indyk’s close friends Bruce and Barbara Solomon flew from Sydney to visit him at his US home six weeks ago. He was in a wheelchair and no longer able to take calls.

“We were there for two nights,” Solomon reminisced at a moving memorial event held in Sydney last week for the former American ambassador. “Who rang for him in those two days? Bill and Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Qatari Prime Minister, New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman, White House staff, Israeli and US negotiators working to free the hostages and many others. Some were asking advice, others checking to see how their friend was doing. Martin was still needed. He is still needed today.”

Solomon was the ninth and final speaker at the memorial, hosted by the Lowy Institute, of which Indyk was a founding member. The paeans of praise at the ceremony were extraordinary.

Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd (the message relayed by Member for Wills Peter Khalil MP): “Very few Australians understand the extent to which Martin was revered in the US for his scholarship, his policy leadership and his humanity. He has been one of our finest representatives on the global stage.”