Indonesia and Australia will sign a new treaty on Monday aimed at smoothing prickly ties through greater security cooperation, and underlining support for Jakarta's sovereignty over restive provinces.
Following are some key dates in bilateral relations:
1962 – Australia criticises Indonesia's takeover of former Dutch colonial territory on the western part of New Guinea, partly because Jakarta at the time is seen as too sympathetic to the Eastern Bloc.
1963 – Indonesia violently "confronts" former British areas of Malaysia and Singapore. In fighting on Borneo island between Malaysia and Indonesia, Australian troops aid Malaysians.
1965 – Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, loses power to military elements who over the next few years shift policy in a pro-West, pro-capitalism direction. Ties with the West improve.
1975 – Five Australian journalists are killed in town of Balibo in East Timor in an attack blamed on Indonesia's military shortly before Jakarta's annexation of the territory.
1989 – Australia acknowledges East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, as an integral part of Indonesia.
Dec 1995 – Australia and Indonesia sign security pact, widely praised as a consolidation of progress in bilateral relations. Canberra agrees to shun independence movements as part of the new alliance with Jakarta.
Sept 1999 – Australia leads peacekeepers into East Timor to quell militia violence following a vote for independence. Indonesia announces it is tearing up the 1995 security agreement.
2001 – Australia deploys navy warships to prevent Middle Eastern boatpeople from Indonesia crossing the border.
Aug 2001 – Indonesia and Australia cooperate in combating illegal immigration after a Norwegian cargo ship rescues mostly Afghan asylum seekers in a fishing boat off Christmas Island.
Oct 2002 – Bombs on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali kill 202 people, including 88 Australians. The attack by Islamic militants leads to greater cooperation between police from the two nations in combating regional terrorism.
Sept 2004 – Australian embassy in Jakarta is bombed, killing at least 10 Indonesians, but no Australians.
Dec 2004 – Deadly Indian Ocean tsunami hits Aceh and North Sumatra provinces in Indonesia. Australia is the first country to offer aid, sending transport aircraft and military personnel.
Oct 2005 – Bombs explode in Bali again, killing 20 people, including four Australians.
March 2006 – Australia grants temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers. Indonesia recalls its envoy and accuses Canberra of supporting the separatist movement in the far- flung province.
June 2006 – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australian Prime Minister John Howard meet on Indonesia's Batam island to mend strained ties. Howard says his country has no wish to be a staging point for Papuan separatists.
Nov 8, 2006 – After two years of negotiations the two sides announce their agreement on a new security treaty, including wording supporting Jakarta's sovereignty over restive provinces.